Video of man's death shows police torture - family

The family or Irvo Otieno (right) said he was experiencing a mental health crisis when he died in custody

The mother of a 28-year-old man who died in police custody said a 12-minute video of the incident is "traumatic and disturbing" and amounts to "torture".

Seven deputy sheriffs in Virginia have been charged with second-degree murder over the death of Irvo Otieno.

Prosecutors on Thursday also announced additional second-degree murder charges against three hospital workers.

Mr Otieno died on 6 March while he was being transferred from a jail to a mental health facility.

A preliminary report from medical examiners shows he died by asphyxiation, prosecutors said.

The seven Henrico County deputy sheriffs have been accused by prosecutors of suffocating Mr Otieno during the transfer.

Prosecutors said additional evidence has led them to also charge three workers at Central State Hospital, where Mr Otieno was being transferred.

A video of the incident was caught on the hospital's surveillance cameras, and was viewed on Thursday by prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump and the family of Mr Otieno.

Mr Crump said the video shows officers restraining Mr Otieno, whose hands and legs were both cuffed.

The video, Mr Crump said, shows Mr Otieno "being restrained so brutally with a knee on his neck, the weight of seven individuals on his body while he is face-down, handcuffed."

He added the video showed that Mr Otieno was not confrontational with the officers and did not pose a threat to them. In most of the video, Mr Crump said Mr Otieno was "in between lifelessness and unconsciousness".

Mr Crump said the death of Mr Otieno mirrors that of George Floyd, who was handcuffed and forced to the ground by Minneapolis police officers in May 2020, sparking a nationwide reckoning against police brutality.

Dinwiddie County Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said the video is a "key element of evidence" that will not be released to the public for fear of jeopardising the judicial process.

Mr Otieno was initially arrested on 3 March as the suspect in a possible burglary, a police news release said.

He was placed under an emergency custody order, used when it is believed that a person could harm themselves or others as a result of mental illness.

Mr Otieno was then taken to hospital for an evaluation, police said, where he "became physically assaultive towards officers". He was then arrested and transferred to jail, where he was charged with assault.

Officers then transferred Mr Otieno back to hospital three days later. Investigators said they were told he had "become combative" during the admission process.

Both Mr Otieno's mother, Caroline Ouko, and Mr Crump said he was experiencing a mental health crisis, and had been on mental health medication he was not able to take during his time in jail.

During a press conference on Thursday, Ms Ouko said her "son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog".

"He wasn't committing a crime," Mr Crump said.

Mr Otieno's family is originally from Kenya and immigrated to the US when he was four years old. An aspiring hip-hop artist, Mr Otieno had a passion for music and sports, they said, and he wrote and recorded music in his free time.

His family said he attended Freeman High School and went to university in California.

"Mental illness should not be your ticket to death," his mother said.

"He often said he wanted to be great one day and help our village in Kenya with their needs," his brother, Leon, said in a GoFundMe page.

The seven deputies have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing. Two have been released on bond, while the others remain in custody.

The three hospital workers were transported to jail, prosecutors said, where they are being held without bond.

Virginia State Police are also probing the incident, and prosecutors said that additional charges and arrests in relation to Mr Otieno's death are pending.