Attorney: Black man was killed by deputies
3 hospital workers also charged in Virginia death
Seven sheriff’s deputies and three hospital workers are being charged with second-degree murder in the death of Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man who died on March 6. Prosecutors say he died in handcuffs and leg irons while held down at a state mental hospital in Petersburg, Virginia.
Video of Otieno’s death exists but has not yet been publicly released. The footage is horrific and violent, according to family and attorneys who have seen it. USA TODAY has not viewed the video.
“What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was traumatic. My son was tortured,” said Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko, about the video on Thursday.
Security camera footage shows that the seven sheriff’s deputies at the hospital “smothered” Otieno and waited more than three hours to report his death, prosecutors said during the officers’ initial court hearing.
“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,” Ben Crump, a civil-rights attorney who featured prominently in high-profile cases including the death of George Floyd and is now working with Otieno’s family, said in a statement.
Charges announced
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.
Otieno died just days after police officers arrested and booked him after a suspicion of burglary, and on charges of counts of assault on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct in a hospital and vandalism. A grand jury in Dinwiddie, Virginia, is expected to meet Tuesday to determine if the deputies and the hospital workers should be indicted.
On March 6, officials transported Otieno to the Central State Hospital where he died while being held down by officers and hospital workers, Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said. The death occurred during the admissions process, authorities said.
Authorities said the preliminary cause of Otieno’s death was asphyxiation, and a state medical examiner preliminarily ruled the manner of death as a homicide. A final cause had not yet been determined.
Mark Krudys, an attorney for Otieno’s family, said the video showed all seven of the deputies pushing down on Otieno, who was in handcuffs and leg irons. “You can see that they’re putting their back into it. Every part of his body is being pushed down with absolute brutality,” he said.
Henrico Sheriff Alisa Gregory said the seven sheriff’s deputies who were involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.
The Associated Press identified the deputies as: Randy Joseph Boyer, 57, of Henrico; Dwayne Alan Bramble, 37, of Sandston; Jermaine Lavar Branch, 45, of Henrico; Bradley Thomas Disse, 43, of Henrico; Tabitha Renee Levere, 50, of Henrico; Brandon Edwards Rodgers, 48, of Henrico; and Kaiyell Dajour Sanders, 30, of North Chesterfield.
The mental health hospital workers charged are: Darian M. Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg; Wavie L. Jones, 34, of Chesterfield; and Sadarius D. Williams, 27, of North Dinwiddie.