INDICT 10 IN HOSP DEATH
7 deputies, 3 med workers charged with murder at Va. psych facility
Seven Virginia sheriff’s deputies and three medical workers were formally indicted Tuesday in the death of Irvo Otieno, who was pinned to the ground by officers and hospital staff for nearly 12 minutes before becoming unresponsive.
Henrico County Sheriff’s Deputies Randy Boyer, Dwayne Bramble, Jermaine Branch, Bradley Disse, Tabitha Levere, Brandon Rodgers and Kaiyell Sanders were each indicted on a charge of second-degree murder alongside Central State Hospital employees Darian Blackwell, Wavie Jones and Sadarius Williams.
“He certainly did not deserve to be smothered to death, which is what happened,” prosecutor Ann Cabell Baskervill said in court Tuesday. The workers were holding him down “from his braids to his toes,” she added.
The grand jury indictment came hours after surveillance video capturing Otieno’s final moments began circulating online. Attorneys for at least two of the defendants attempted to block the video’s release, arguing that it could impede a fair trial for their clients.
The clip shows at least 10 Virginia deputies and medical workers surrounding and piling on top of the handcuffed 28-year-old until he goes limp, according to The Washington Post, which obtained video of the altercation that ended with Otieno’s death.
The incident unfolded March 6 at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Va., where Otieno was admitted as a patient about 4 p.m.
Otieno was escorted to the facility, which provides psychiatric care, by deputies from the Henrico County sheriff’s office. They had arrested him earlier while responding to reports of a burglary.
The surveillance video begins in the hospital, with deputies forcing Otieno forward while medical staff trail behind. He’s next seen in video time-stamped around 4:19 p.m. as he’s brought into the admissions area of the hospital.
A group of Henrico County deputies can be seen pulling him into the room and forcing him to sit on the ground. Two officers then hold him down with his back propped against a seat.
Just before 4:30 p.m., Otieno appears to move, prompting more deputies to pounce on him. At one point, they seem to lose their grip on him and a struggle ensues, with as many as 10 people holding Otieno down.
Medical staff members were also in the room, some helping to subdue the patient.
Minutes after deputies release Otieno’s limp body at about 4:40 p.m., workers can be seen applying chest compressions and using a defibrillator.
State investigators “were told he had become combative during the admission process. Otieno, who was physically restrained, died during the intake process,” the prosecutor’s office said.
An official cause of death has not been released, but Baskervill said during a hearing this month that Otieno “died of asphyxia due to being smothered to death.”
Otieno’s family was shown the video from the hospital last week by a prosecutor.
“My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog,” his mother, Caroline Ouko, said after watching the clip.
“This was my baby,” she added. “He cared for people. He cared that people were treated right. That was at the core of his upbringing in our home. He cared that people were treated equally.”