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

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.

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.

BREAKING: Newly released hospital surveillance of Irvo Otieno’s death shows him being DRAGGED into an admissions room in handcuffs and leg irons. Then Henrico County (VA) sheriff's deputies & medical staff PILE on top of the shackled 28-yo for 11 MINUTES until he stops moving! pic.twitter.com/Bg9P1zrWbQ

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) March 21, 2023

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.

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.