10 CHARGED IN MAN’S DEATH AT VA. MENTAL HOSPITAL

Video from a state mental hospital shows a Black Virginia man who was handcuffed and shackled being pinned to the ground by deputies who are now facing second-degree murder charges in his death, according to relatives of the man and their attorneys who viewed the footage Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference shortly after watching the video with a local prosecutor, the family and attorneys condemned the brutal treatment they said Irvo Otieno, 28, was subjected to, first at a local jail and then at the state hospital where authorities say he died March 6 during the admission process.

They called on the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying Otieno’s constitutional rights were clearly violated.

“What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was traumatic. My son was tortured,” said Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko.

Otieno’s case marks the latest example of a Black man’s in-custody death that has law enforcement under scrutiny. It follows the the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., earlier this year and comes nearly three years after the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family and is now working with Otieno’s, quickly drew a comparison.

“It is truly shocking that nearly three years after the brutal killing of George Floyd by police, another family is grieving a loved one who allegedly died in nearly the exact same manner — being pinned down by police for 12 agonizing minutes,” Crump said in a statement.

Ten people so far have been charged with second-degree murder in Otieno’s death. The seven Henrico County sheriff’s deputies were charged Tuesday and additional charges were announced Thursday against three people who were employed by the hospital.

Shannon Taylor, the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County, said in a statement Thursday that she’s conducting a review of what happened in the jail that day, and she pledged to release her findings. The county sheriff declined comment.

DANIEL SANGJIB MIN AP Caroline Ouko, mother of Irvo Otieno, holds a portrait of her son as she speaks at a news conference Thursday alongside attorney Ben Crump (left) and her older son, Leon Ochieng, in Dinwiddie, Va.