Irvo Otieno died March 6 at the state mental health facility during the intake process as he was being transferred from a Henrico County jail, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill.
“The criminal information warrants are based on the evidence collected, analyzed and evaluated to-date,” Baskervill said, according to the news release announcing the arrests of the hospital workers. She said the surveillance video from Central State Hospital that captures the intake process “a key element of that evidence.“
CNN has reached out to the Central State Hospital for comment.
In court Wednesday, Baskervill said Otieno was in handcuffs and leg irons and was held on the ground for 12 minutes by all seven deputies. She said the surveillance video of the incident is “extremely clear” and “extremely alarming.”
“They smothered him to death,” she said. “He died of asphyxia due to being smothered.”
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond’s preliminary report identifies asphyxiation as a cause of death, the commonwealth attorney’s office said in a statement.
The Otieno family and their attorneys were shown the video by prosecutors Thursday, March 16 civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a news conference.
The video is a “commentary on how inhumane law enforcement officials treat people who are having a mental health crisis as criminals rather than treating them as people who are in need of help,” he said.
“He, in the videos, (is) never confrontational with them. He is not posing a threat to them. He’s not violent or aggressive with them. You see in the video he is restrained with handcuffs, he has leg irons on, and you see in the majority of the video that he seems to be in between lifelessness and unconsciousness, but yet you see him being restrained so brutally with a knee on his neck,” he said.
Crump called on the US Department of Justice to join the investigation into Otieno’s death, saying his constitutional rights were violated.
Caroline Ouko, Otieno’s mother, said the video was “heartbreaking” and added, “My son was tortured.”
She also spoke about her son’s mental illness, saying he had long stretches where “(you) wouldn’t even know something was wrong” and then there were times when “he would go into some kind of distress and then you know he needs to see a doctor.”
“Mental illness should not be your ticket to death,” Ouko added.
She said she followed her son to the hospital on March 3 and a doctor who was treating Otieno approached her and said her son was going to be alright. Ouko said they pulled her son off treatment and took him to jail but didn’t take his medicine.
Ouko attempted to see her son several times, she said, but, “They refused (to let) me to see my baby.”
She said she wouldn’t wish this upon any other parent or child. “They murdered my baby,” She added, “Why was my son murdered? What was the reason?”
Otieno’s older brother, Leon Ochieng said he witnessed a “homicide” in the video.
“What I saw was a lifeless human being without any representation,” Ochieng said.
Ochieng said his family is broken and is calling for more awareness on how to treat those with mental illnesses. “Can someone explain to me why my brother is not here, right now?” Ochieng said.
Otieno had also been on medication for mental illness, but he was not able to take the medication while in custody, family attorney Mark Krudys told CNN.
