HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A timeline is beginning to emerge after seven Henrico deputies were charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno earlier this month.
On March 2, Henrico Police responded to the 2200 block of Haviland Drive after Otieno’s neighbor expressed concern about his behavior. The call for service was reclassified from a suspicious situation to a mental health problem after officers spoke to Otieno and a family member.
The next day, on March 3, Henrico Police responded to a call of a possible burglary in the 8800 block of Fordson Road, which is in the same neighborhood as Haviland Drive. Officers, with the help of a crisis intervention team, placed Otieno under an emergency custody order and was taken to Parham Doctors’ Hospital.
At the hospital’s crisis receiving center, Police say Otieno “became physically assaultive towards officers.” He was then arrested and taken to Henrico West Jail.
A few days later, on March 6, Henrico County Sheriff’s Office deputies transported Otieno to Central State Hospital, which is a psychiatric inpatient facility in Dinwiddie County. Deputies arrived at 3:58 p.m. to admit him.
By 7:28 p.m. that day, Virginia State Police had been called to investigate Otieno’s death.
It is still unclear what exactly happened during the medical transport to Central State Hospital on March 6. Deputies say Otieno was combative during the intake process and needed to be restrained.
Eight days later, on Tuesday, March 14, the Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney announced that seven Henrico deputies had turned themselves in to state police on second degree murder charges.
Those deputies are:
Randy Joseph Boyer, 57, of Henrico, Va.
Dwayne Alan Bramble, 37, of Sandston, Va.
Jermaine Lavar Branch, 45, of Henrico, Va.
Bradley Thomas Disse, 43, of Henrico, Va.
Tabitha Renee Levere, 50, of Henrico, Va.
Brandon Edwards Rodgers, 48, of Henrico, Va.
Kaiyell Dajour Sanders, 30, of North Chesterfield, Va.
Each deputy is now facing one felony count of second degree murder. All of them are on administrative leave.
According to Dinwiddie County Commonwealth Attorney Ann Baskervill, the use of criminal information to make an arrest like this in Virginia is rare. However, she says this was done to protect other Henrico County Jail residents.
“This is unusual,” 8News legal analyst Russ Stone said. “Unfortunately, deaths in jails do occur, but I can’t remember the last time that a jail employee or a deputy sheriff was actually charged with an offense.”
8News has requested the policies and protocols surrounding the transportation of inmates from Henrico Sheriff’s Office, but has not received this information yet.
According to Stone, the use of force on an inmate suffering with health health challenges will play a key role in this case.
“If the victim was attacking the deputies at the time, then the question would become whether or not whatever force they used was reasonable,” Stone said.
Otieno’s cause of death is still unknown.
“The Commonwealth is going to have to prove that all seven of these deputies deliberately engaged in behavior to kill a human being, and that that’s always a hard thing to prove,” Stone said.
8News has reached out to both the Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney and the Henrico Sheriff’s Office for comment, but neither are accepting interviews at this time.
All seven deputies are expected in court on the morning of Wednesday, March 15.
