10 Persons Are Accused In The US Hospital Death Of A Black Prisoner
According to a prosecutor in the case, seven US police officers and three hospital employees have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a Black prisoner in a Virginia psychiatric facility on Thursday.
Irvo Otieno, 28, who was transferred from a local prison due to his mental health, passed away on March 6 at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, three hours south of the US capital Washington.
He died of asphyxiation while being “physically restrained,” according to preliminary autopsy results, said Dinwiddie County District Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill in a statement.
Otieno’s family was given a video of his death on Thursday.
Otieno “was suffering from mental illness, but what I saw today was heart-breaking,” said his mother Caroline Ouko at a press conference.
She claimed that “seven officers are on one man” on the video, and that it “goes on and on.”
“My son was handled worse than a dog, like a dog. They smothered my baby, I saw it with my own eyes,” the woman claimed.
The family has hired Ben Crump, a well-known attorney best recognized for defending the families of victims of police violence against African Americans.
According to Crump, Otieno was handcuffed, had his ankles shackled, and was held down by the seven police officers for 12 minutes.
The seven Henrico County sheriff’s deputies, whose ages ranged from 30 to 57, were apprehended and charged with second-degree murder on Tuesday.
Three hospital personnel, ranging in age from 23 to 34, were detained and charged on Thursday.
The 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, caused a national crisis on police violence and racism.
The shocking video of Floyd’s death spurred widespread rallies against racism and brutality and rekindled long-simmering anger and terror about police violence that disproportionately targets African Americans.
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