F12: 7 Virginia Cops And 3 Medical Staff Charged With Second-Degree Murder Of Black Man In Mental Hospital

      Source: Pakin Songmor / Getty

       

      Another day, another example of heinous behavior by people who swore to protect others.

      7 Henrico County, Virginia law enforcement officers and 3 employees of Central State Hospital in neighboring Dinwiddie County have all been arrested and charged with the second-degree murder of a man in their care. According to an NPR report, 28-year-old Irvo Noel Otieno was taken into emergency care on March 3 while experiencing a mental health crisis. His family says for three days he was tortured, “brutalized”, pepper sprayed, stripped naked, and deprived of his various medication.

       

      Otieno was then transported to Central State where he was restrained with handcuffs on his wrists and ankles while being held down for over 12 minutes by police during intake. Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill says:

      “They smothered him to death,” she said. “He died of asphyxia due to being smothered.”

      Randy Joseph Boyer Dwayne Alan Bramble, Jermaine Lavar Branch, Bradley Thomas Disse, Tabitha Renee Levere, Brandon Edwards Rodgers, and Kaiyell Dajour Sanders were named as the 7 law enforcement officials charged while Darian M. Blackwell, Wavie L. Jones, and Sadarius D. Williams represent the accused from the hospital. The Otieno family is being represented by Mark Krudys and ubiquitous civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
      “Mental illness should not be your ticket to death,” said Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko, noting that mental health is on the decline across the country, exacerbated by the pandemic. “My son was treated like a dog — worse than a dog — I saw it with my own eyes on the video. He was treated inhumanely, and it was traumatic and it was systematic.”
      Krudys says that he fully expects the video of Irvo’s death to be made public. We’ll be watching this case very closely.
      Get Social
      AD: Wraps by Renzel