Shocking video shows last moments of Irvo Otieno, US-based Kenyan killed by police officers

for Tv47 Digital March 21, 2023, 07:22 PM
Irvo Otieno killed by police
A screen grab from the shocking video that shows seven police officers on top of Irvo Otieno, the U.S-based Kenyan man who died at the hands of the police.

In Summary

  • According to the deceased mother Caroline Ouko, on March 3 a report was made to the police against her son - who she says was suffering from mental distress- by one of the neighbours.
  • But before she could call her son's psychiatrist for a special movement to a mental health facility, police officers surrounded their house and arrested Otieno after the said report of a possible burglary. 

A video has emerged of the last moments of Irvo Otieno, the U.S-based Kenyan man who was killed by police officers at a Virginia mental hospital.

In the hospital surveillance video, as many as 10 police officers and medical staff at Central State Hospital are seen piling on top of a shackled Otieno for approximately 11 minutes until he stops moving.

Irvo Otieno, 28, was allegedly killed by police officers in Virginia, USA, while in custody. PHOTO | COURTESY

The video, which has no sound, details the events of March 6 this year, from the time Henrico County sheriff’s deputies dragged Otieno, 28, into a hospital admissions room in handcuffs and leg irons, to when they released Otieno’s lifeless body 11 minutes later.

Health workers at the hospital are then seen beginning to apply chest compressions and a defibrillator machine to Otieno’s upper body. After a while, one of them covers the body with a white sheet at 5:48 p.m.


Seven cops charged

Seven police officers and three staff members at the hospital have since been charged with second-degree murder, with more arrests and charges expected.

The seven Virginia sheriff’s deputies who have been charged with murder in the death of Irvo Otieno who had been arrested and was physically restrained while being admitted to a hospital this month.
PHOTO | COURTESY

According to the deceased mother Caroline Ouko, on March 3 a report was made to the police against her son - who she says was suffering from mental distress- by one of the neighbours.

But before she could call her son's psychiatrist for a special movement to a mental health facility, police officers surrounded their house and arrested Otieno after the said report of a possible burglary. They handcuffed him and took him to Henrico Doctors' Hospital and eventually to Henrico County Jail.

Ouko suspects that it is in this jail that Otieno was tortured by police officers and later rushed to a state mental health facility where he died.

"He died of asphyxia due to being smothered to death, thanks to having at least seven people, including the defendant, on top of him and holding him down," Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said at a court hearing Wednesday, March 15.

Mark Krudys, an attorney for Otieno’s family says he was treated brutally.

“The family is truly grief-stricken after learning of the brutal nature of Irvo’s death and his inhumane treatment in the hours preceding his death. The public, and experienced mental health professionals alike, will be appalled when the facts of this case are fully made known.”

Otieno went to the U.S at the age of 4. Preliminary investigations have revealed that he was on medication for mental illness, but he was not able to take the medication while in custody.

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