RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – The state medical examiner’s office has ruled the death of Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man who died in the custody of Henrico sheriff’s deputies last month, a homicide and that he died of “positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints.”
Otieno died on March 6 after he was pinned down by deputies and others while he was being admitted to Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie. Ten people — seven Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and three Central State Hospital personnel — have been charged with second-degree murder in his death.
“The cause of death is positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints and the manner of death is homicide,” Arkuie Williams, the administrative deputy in the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, wrote in an email to 8News.
Surveillance video shows a restrained Otieno being dragged into Central State hospital on March 6 and eventually pressed to the floor in a hospital admissions room by many as 10 sheriff’s deputies and hospital personnel.
A handcuffed and shackled Otieno was held to the ground for over 11 minutes until he was motionless, a review of the video revealed. The footage then shows unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him after his body goes limp.
Ben Crump and Mark Krudys, the lawyers for Otieno’s family, released a statement Monday announcing that the state medical examiner’s office deemed Otieno’s death a homicide, which Williams later confirmed.
“The official cause and manner of death is not surprising to us as it corroborates what the world witnessed in the video,” they said in the statement. “In a chilling parallel to George Floyd’s killing, Irvo was held down and excessively restrained to death, when he should have been provided medical help and compassion. It is tragic that yet another life has been lost to this malicious and deadly restraint technique.”
Otieno was placed under an emergency custody order by law enforcement on March 3, a decision Henrico police said was based on how he was acting and interacting with officers who responded to his neighborhood for a report of a possible burglary.
According to Krudys, Otieno was experiencing mental distress at the time and was sent to a hospital in Henrico County for treatment. “Irvo was then whisked away from there, taken to a jail and the charges are among other things, a disturbance at a hospital,” Krudys told reporters after Otieno’s funeral.
Otieno was then taken from the Henrico jail to be admitted to Virginia’s Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie. Krudys has claimed that unseen video shows Otieno naked in his cell, being hit by deputies at the jail and calling out for help without being provided any by staff.
Stay with 8News for updates.
