Shocking surveillance video has been released in connection with the death of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno who died in police custody. As we reported, Otieno was taken in handcuffs and leg irons from Richmond, Virginia, to Central State Hospital in Petersburg from Henrico County jail.
The Washington Post reports that the footage from the Virginia psychiatric facility where Otieno perished, shows seven deputies and three hospital staff smothering the restrained 28-year-old for over 11 minutes until he stopped breathing and moving. Currently, 10 people have been charged over the March 6 death.
The newly released footage shows Henrico County deputies bringing a restrained and shirtless Otieno into an empty room and placing him on a chair, by the 4:26 p.m., timestamp, deputies move Otieno onto the floor and begin to restrain him. At one point there are ten people on top of him.
Later the horrific video shows staff applying chest compressions and a defibrillator to Otieno as he lies lifeless on the ground.
“My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog,” Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko previously said to reporters at a press conference with her lawyers. “I saw it with my own eyes in the video. He was treated inhumanely, and it was traumatic, and it was systemic.”
The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Dinwiddie County said in a news release that three Virginia hospital employees were arrested on March 16 and charged with the death. Three of the employees were identified as Darian M. Blackwell, 23, Wavie L. Jones, 34, and Sadarius D. Williams, 27, following the March 14 arrests of seven sheriff’s deputies who also turned themselves in on second-degree murder charges. The seven sheriff’s deputies are on administrative leave pending the investigation’s outcome.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he would be watching the video and reviewing the mental health systems in place.
“There is a judicial process going on and we have to fully respect that, and I ask everybody to please fully respect it,” Youngkin said. “We also can just see the heart-wrenching nature of the challenges in our behavioral health system.”
Why was Irvo Otieno In Custody
According to reports the aspiring musician was in custody after officers responded to a report of a possible burglary. He was suffering a mental health crisis at the time and officials say he allegedly assaulted three officers. He was then booked into county hail until March 6 when he was taken to the mental health facility.