Three former employees of a mental hospital in Virginia were arrested and charged with second-degree murder, a prosecutor said, over the death of a Black man, Irvo Otieno, who was transported to the facility from jail earlier this month
Irvo Otieno, 28, died on March 6 as he was being admitted to Central State Hospital in the city of Petersburg, according to Dinwiddie County Commonwealth Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill. Petersburg is in central Virginia, roughly 25 miles south of Richmond.
Darian Blackwell, 23, Wavie Jones, 34, and Sadarius Williams, 27, were taken into custody on Thursday, one day after murder charges were filed. The suspects are being held without bond at a jail in neighboring Brunswick County, prosecutors said. The family viewed surveillance video on Thursday that was recorded at the mental health facility and captured Otieno's death. In describing the incident, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the family, said Otieno was handcuffed and smothered to death for 12 minutes by seven sheriff's deputies at the mental health facility.
A preliminary report by medical examiners said Otieno, who immigrated to the United States from Kenya when he was four, died of asphyxiation. Prosecutors say they have collected evidence and that they were told he was physically restrained during the intake process because he was "combative."Seven sheriffs deputies of Henrico County, Virginia,Authorities have not said why Otieno was taken into custody or why he was being transferred to a mental health facility.
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