Virginia hospital patient Irvo Otieno, who was pinned by officers, staff, died of asphyxia, autopsy shows

Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old black man whose death at a Virginia mental hospital last month sparked outrage and led to second-degree murder charges against 10 defendants, died of “positional and mechanical asphyxiation with restraints,” the coroner’s office said. medical. said there.

Arkuie Williams, administrative deputy at the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed the cause of death findings to The Associated Press after lawyers for Otieno’s family first identified them in a statement. The manner of death was murder, Williams wrote in an email.

Otieno, who struggled with mental illness, died on March 6 after he was pinned to the floor while being treated at Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County.

A video released earlier this month showed sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees holding Otieno in handcuffs and holding him for about 20 minutes after he was forced into a hospital room. For most of the time, Otieno was prone on the floor, pinned by a huge group that blocked the view of his camera at times.

10 people face charges of 2nd degree murder

Personnel who realized he appeared limp and lifeless eventually began resuscitation efforts, the video shows. Otieno’s family and his lawyer say he is harmless and just trying to breathe.

“The official cause and manner of death is not surprising to us because it supports what the world witnessed in the video,” family attorneys Ben Crump and Mark Krudys said in a statement.

“In parallel with the chilling to kill George Floyd’s, Irvo was held down and very restrained death, when it should have been available medical help and compassion. It is tragic that another life has been lost to this malicious and deadly control technique.”

Seven deputies and three hospital workers have been charged with second-degree murder in Otieno’s death.

The local prosecutor who brought the charges earlier said in court that Otieno died.

No additional information from the autopsy beyond the cause and manner of death could be released by the medical examiner’s office, Williams said.

Otieno was buried last week. Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and other speakers at the funeral said his death shows the need for mental health and police reform.

Otieno should not go to jail, the family said

Otieno’s family and his lawyer said Otieno was mentally disturbed when he met with law enforcement earlier this month, days before he was taken to a state hospital.

He was first taken into police custody on March 3, when he was transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment under an emergency detention order.

Police said that while at a local hospital, he “became physically assaulted by officers,” when they arrested him and took him to a local jail, something Otieno’s family said would never happen because he needed treatment.

On the evening of March 6, he was transferred to the state hospital, which has a unit that provides treatment for people who go to prison or by court order.

Some lawyers for the defendants charged in the death have said their clients are trying to stop Otieno.

All the defendants have been granted bail and court records show a pre-trial hearing in April or May.