The incident shown in the video accompanying this news occurred on March 6, when Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old black man, was still admitted to the Virginia Central Hospital (United States) in the city of Petersburg. Henrico County Sheriff’s Deputy and hospital medical staff wrestled the patient to the ground, killing him minutes later.
The video shows six agents taking Otieno into a room. There they tried to hold him down and finally hit him on the ground to break his resistance. Up to 10 officers and hospital staff held him for a few moments while his legs were tied and his arms were handcuffed behind his back. The rest of the police and workers watched the situation from one side of the room. They later tried unsuccessfully to revive him with a defibrillator.
Following the death of Irvo Otieno, police arrested three employees at the psychiatric hospital and seven of the officers involved in the event and charged them with murder. According to a preliminary report by coroners, Otieno, who immigrated to the United States from Kenya when he was four, choked to death. Prosecutors say in the indictment that he was sedated during the admissions process at the center because he was “combative.”
Otieno’s death follows another incident of police brutality in January, when Memphis cops beat Tire Nichols during a traffic stop. Nichols died after being punched and kicked by police.