The death of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno, a black man who died in Police custody at a mental health facility in Henrico, Va., earlier this month, has sparked concern for Police responses to mental health incidents.
Irvo Otieno, a mentally ill man was suffocated to death earlier this month while in law enforcement custody in Virginia.
Otieno, 28, was being transported from the Henrico County jail to Virginia’s Central State Hospital, a state-run psychiatric facility, on the afternoon of March 6.
A spokesperson had earlier told CBS News that Otieno had become combative while being transported to the facility.
Surveillance video shows Otieno, handcuffed and in leg irons, led to a chair in the admission room.
About eight minutes later, video shows at least two officers holding Otieno on the ground, reacting when he moves.
The officers then seem to lose their grip on him and he is rolled across the floor. Four minutes later, more police and hospital staff arrive and restrain him.
At least nine people were seen on camera piling on top of Otieno as other hospital staff look on.
The video shows that he was held down for 11 minutes. He died at the scene.
Ten people were charged with second-degree murder in Otieno’s death on Tuesday, 21 March, including seven Henrico County deputies and three hospital employees.
On 14 March, seven deputies were charged with second-degree murder and turned themselves in to the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
The seven deputies from the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office are Randy Joseph Boyer, Dwayne Alan Bramble, Jermaine Lavar Branch, Bradley Thomas Disse, Tabitha Renee Levere, Brandon Edwards Rodgers and Kaivell Dajour Sanders.
Three hospital employees, Sadarius Devon Williams, Wavie Lavon Jones and Darian Malique Blackwell — were also each indicted on one count of second-degree murder.
A judge also granted bond for two of the deputies and one hospital employee after hearing arguments from Baskervill and their defense attorneys.
Caleb Kershner, an attorney for Deputy Randy Boyer, said in court that Otieno had been “somewhat combative” at the jail and hospital. He said Boyer did not realize Otieno was in any danger as he was being restrained because Boyer was working near his legs.
“Clearly, there was a significant need to restrain this man given the mental health issues that were going on,” Kershner said.
Jeff Everhart, an attorney for Deputy Brandon Rodgers, said his client had been trying to help by moving Otieno to his side. But Baskervill said the video shows Otieno was moved on his side only when someone from the hospital came in and gave that direction.
“My son was treated like a dog. Worse than a dog. My son was tortured,” said Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko, who reviewed the video before it was publicly released.
According to the chief medical examiner’s preliminary report, Otieno died from asphyxiation on March 6 during the encounter with authorities.
“Mental illness should not be your ticket to death. I don’t understand how all the systems failed him,” Ouko said.
On Monday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, described Otieno’s death as “heart-wrenching” and said the public mental health system is overdue for changes.
“What we have is a system that is built today and overwhelmed today with the in-crisis moment, and where we are so lacking is pre-crisis services,” Youngkin told reporters.
“We also can just see the heart-wrenching nature of the challenges in our behavioral health system and why I think it is so important that we press forward with aggressive transformation of that system.”
Otieno is just the latest “hashtag.” Only three days before he died, 31-year-old Najee Seabrooks was shot and killed by police in Paterson after he called 911 during a mental health crisis.
“That should be alarming to people to realize that we are not handling mental health crises with support, care and compassion. We’re handling it with trauma, violence and even fatalities,” Thomas said.
Experts say the intersection between mental health and policing can be deadly, especially for Black Americans. Black people are 2.9 times as likely as white people to be killed by police in the U.S., according to Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit group that tracks police shootings.
