Video shows Virginia hospital patient Irvo Otieno pinned by officers, staff before his death

A large group of sheriff’s deputies and employees of the Virginia psychiatric hospital pinned the patient Irvo Otieno to the floor until he was motionless and limp, then resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, surveillance video recently taken from the incident earlier this month shows.

Footage obtained Tuesday, which has no audio, shows various members of the group struggling with a handcuffed and shackled Otieno, who is black, about 20 minutes after he was led to a room at Central State Hospital, where he will be admitted. March 6. For most of that time, Otieno on the floor was held by a fluctuating group that at one point appeared to reach 10 people pressing down on various parts of the body.

The death prompted second-degree murder charges against seven deputies and three hospital workers and protests from his family, which said Otieno, 28, had been brutally abused both at a state hospital and while in law enforcement custody days earlier. . Attorneys for many of the defendants say they will vigorously fight the charges.

Otieno’s relatives were shown video from the hospital last week by the prosecutor, Dinwiddie Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill, who said they planned to release him on Tuesday.

But lawyers for at least two defendants tried to block the release of the video, arguing that it could hinder a fair trial. The Associated Press obtained more footage Tuesday through a link included in a public court filing made by Baskervill.

According to the timestamp on the footage, which was first reported by The Washington Post, the SUV carrying Otieno arrived at the hospital just before 4pm local time. At 4:19 p.m., a different camera showed him being brought into a room with a table and a chair. He was quickly pulled into a chair before finally slumping on the floor, first in a sitting position then lying.

As time passed, more and more workers grabbed him as he began to move around the floor. Otieno’s shirtless body is hard to see at times, it cannot be seen by people who are at least on top of it or someone standing in the way of the camera.

“He certainly didn’t deserve to be killed, that’s what happened,” Baskervill told the court on Tuesday. The workers were holding him down, “from the braids down to the toes,” she said.

According to the 4:39 pm time stamp, someone took her pulse and she appeared to be unresponsive. Not long after, while Otieno’s body was still, someone administered two injections. At 4:42 p.m., CPR was seen being administered. Lifesaving efforts were seen for almost an hour. At 17:48, Otieno’s body was covered with a white cloth.

‘Too aggressive’

The final autopsy findings have not been released, although Baskervill has said several times that she died of asphyxiation.

Defense lawyers raised the possibility that the injection caused his death, though Baskervill disputed that on Tuesday, saying he was already dead when the shots were fired.

The link in Baskervill’s submission includes audio from the Dinwiddie County 911 call. In one, a caller from the hospital asked for an EMS team, Otieno said, who was “very aggressive,” stopping her breathing when they tried to stop her. A subsequent call reflected the hospital caller’s impatience with how much time had passed without an EMS crew attending.

On Tuesday, a Dinwiddie County grand jury entered second-degree murder charges against all 10 defendants.

The judge also granted bail to two deputies and one hospital employee after hearing arguments from Baskervill and defense attorneys.

Caleb Kershner, an attorney for Deputy Randy Boyer, said in court that Otieno was “quite aggressive” in jail and the hospital. He said Boyer did not know Otieno was in danger because he was being held because Boyer was working near his feet.

Jeff Everhart, attorney for Deputy Brandon Rodgers, said his client has tried to help by moving Otieno to the side. But Baskervill said the video showed Otieno being moved only when someone from the hospital came in and gave them directions.

The Associated Press requested comment on the video from defense attorneys for all the other defendants who have received counsel.

Rhonda Quagliana, an attorney for one of the hospital employees, Sadarius Williams, said her client is innocent. He said he had only minimal physical contact with Otieno and did not apply any force that could have caused the incident.

Douglas Ramseur, who represents another hospital employee, Wavie Jones, asked the judge Tuesday to implement a gag order in the case, arguing that the release of the video and the subsequent media attention has damaged the defendants’ ability to get a fair trial. The judge, who granted bail for Jones, refused to grant a gag order.

Other defense attorneys did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls.

‘Treated like a dog, worse than a dog’

Last week, Otieno’s family spoke at a press conference after viewing the footage, which they called disturbing and upsetting. He tortured her and asked the US Department of Justice to intervene in the case.

“My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog,” said his mother, Caroline Ouko.

The family is represented by Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney who also represents the family of George Floyd. Crump said Otieno’s treatment was similar to the killing of Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020, and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson made the same comparison in a statement Tuesday.

“The police are just not a substitute for compassionate and informed mental health professionals. Instead of ignoring and criminalizing the Black community, we must act to ensure that no one experiences or witnesses this kind of violence at the hands of law enforcement ever again,” Johnson. said.

Crump and his family, who have previously expressed support for the video being made public, plan to hold a press conference later Tuesday.

The charges against the deputies were announced last Tuesday. In a news release on Friday announcing the charges against three hospital employees, Baskervill said additional charges are pending.

An investigation into what happened before Otieno’s death — both at the Henrico County hospital where he was taken and the jail where his family said other videos they viewed showed evidence of abuse — is ongoing, Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement.