In recently revealed CCTV footage, the final minutes of a man who was “smothered to death” after as many as ten police officers and medical personnel seemed to sit on him for 12 minutes were filmed.
In the footage from the 6th of March, Irvo Otieno, 28, was handcuffed and shackled at the ankles at Virginia’s Central State Hospital.
At 4.28 p.m., officers bring Mr. Otieno into an admissions room and force him to the floor, where he is restrained.
Mr Otieno becomes unresponsive twelve minutes later, at 4.40pm, with chest compressions beginning two minutes later.
At 5.48 p.m., an ambulance arrives and a defibrillator machine appears to have been used before a medical technician drapes a white sheet over him.
Seven deputies from the Virginia sheriff’s office and three hospital employees have been charged with murder.
Mr. Otieno’s mother claimed that her son was “handled like a dog, much worse than a dog.”
“These nine men and one woman murdered my son,” Caroline Ouko claimed.
Mr. Otieno’s death was described as a “tragic, senseless, horrible nightmare” by his brother.
“Could you perhaps explain why my brother isn’t here right now? Please explain to me why my mum is unable to sleep or eat “He stated.
“We are shattered. Our hearts are shattered.”
Mr. Otieno’s relatives praised him as a selfless individual as well as a great hip-hop artist.
“If you look at that footage, as they double down with the pressure they apply, he is gasping for breath,” said Mark Krudys, an attorney for Mr Otieno’s family.
“Every human being has the right to breathe freely. He was just trying to breathe – that was all he was doing.”
Attorneys for two of the accused attempted to prevent the footage from being released.
Mr Otieno was detained three days earlier after cops responded to a probable burglary report, according to police.
He was given a “emergency custody order,” which is commonly used in cases of mental illness.
According to the prosecutor’s office in Virginia, deputies transported Mr. Otieno to the hospital to be admitted.
Instead, “he died of asphyxia as a result of being smothered to death by at least seven individuals on top of him and keeping him down,” lawyer Ann Cabell Baskervill said during a court hearing on Wednesday.