Ten people have been charged in the death of Irvo Otieno, a Virginia man who died on March 6 in Dinwiddie County after being handcuffed, shackled, and pinned to the ground by deputies while experiencing a mental health crisis first at a local jail and then at a state hospital, according to Otieno’s relatives and their attorneys.
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Those charged face second-degree murder in Otieno’s death. Seven Henrico County Sheriff’s deputies were charged Tuesday, and additional charges were announced Thursday against three people who were employed by the hospital.
Otieno’s family and attorneys viewed footage of his death and the events that led up to it on Thursday (which has not been publicly released), voicing their shock over the horrid nature of it. “What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was traumatic. My son was tortured,” Caroline Ouko, Otieno’s mother, said, per the Associated Press. The family’s attorneys have asked the Justice Department to get involved in the case, saying Otieno’s constitutional rights were violated.
Otieno, 28, was reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis on March 3 when a neighbor called the police because they were concerned about him gathering lawn lights from a yard, according to the news outlet.
Otieno’s family supported him being taken to the hospital, family attorney Mark Krudys said, but his mother asked police not to be aggressive with him. At the local hospital, police said Otieno became “physically assaultive toward officers,” and he was held on three counts of assault on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct in a hospital, and vandalism.
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The victim’s family claim he was mistreated while in jail, including being pepper sprayed, and officers eventually went into his cell and carried him out “by his arms and legs” to be transported to Central State Hospital. Otieno was held down for 12 minutes while he was restrained, eventually being smothered to death, Dinwiddie County Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill told a judge on Wednesday, per the Richmond-Times Dispatch.
Baskervill said Otieno did not appear to be combative and officers had no legal jurisdiction for putting him on the floor and kneeling on his body while he was being transported to the state hospital.
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Otieno’s death has troubled many in the country as being eerily similar to that of George Floyd’s and dozens of other black men and women in the U.S. It also has called into consciousness the nature of law enforcement responding to mental health distress calls.
Two of the deputies were released from jail on bond, according to reports, while the others remain in custody.
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Another one of Otieno’s family’s attorneys is Ben Crump, who is known for representing families in civil rights cases. Crump said Otieno’s family believes the public should see the footage of his death.
