New Footage Shows US Hospital Patient Pinned To The Floor Before His Death

In a recently discovered footage, hospital workers and police in the US are seen forcing a patient to the ground until he is limp and immobile before attempting ineffective resuscitation.

Irvo Otieno, who was handcuffed and shackled, was led into a room at a Virginia psychiatric hospital where he was going to be admitted on March 6. The footage, which lacks audio, shows various members of the group trying to restrain him for about 20 minutes after that.

The 28-year-old black male is held down by a gang, the number of whom fluctuates but at one point appears to be 10, for the majority of the time.

In connection with Mr. Otieno’s passing, seven sheriff’s deputies and three employees of Central State Hospital have been charged with second-degree murder.

According to Mr. Otenio’s family, he suffered savage abuse both at the state hospital and over the course of the previous days while being held by law authorities. Many of the defendants’ attorneys have stated that they will adamantly contest the allegations.

Last week, a prosecutor who said she intended to make the video public showed it to Mr. Otieno’s family members. At least two of the defendants’ attorneys attempted to prevent the release of the film on the grounds that it might impede a fair trial.

Time stamps in the video show that Mr. Otieno arrived at the hospital in an SUV just before 4 o’clock. Around 4.19 p.m., a different camera captures him being dragged into a room with furniture. He is hurriedly pushed towards a seat before finally dropping on the ground, first seated then flat.

He appears to start moving on the floor, and as time goes on, more and more employees are holding him down. Mr. Otieno’s shirtless torso is occasionally hidden by individuals holding him down or posing for the camera.

Prosecutor Ann Cabell Baskervill stated, “He certainly did not deserve to be suffocated to death, which is what happened.”

He was being restrained by the workers “from his braids down to his toes.”

Someone is taking Mr. Otieno’s pulse at 4.39 p.m., and he doesn’t seem to be responding. Immediately after, when Mr. Otieno’s body sits still, it appears like two injections are being given. CPR appears to have begun at 4:42 p.m. The attempt to save lives seemed to last for almost an hour. Mr. Otieno’s body is covered in a white sheet at 5.48 p.m. as seen in the footage.

Although the final results of the post-mortem study have not yet been made public, Ms. Baskervill has repeatedly stated that Mr. Otieno asphyxiated to death.

Defense attorneys have suggested that the injections may have led to Mr. Otieno’s demise, but Ms. Baskervill has refuted this, claiming that Mr. Otieno was already dead when the shots were given.

Second-degree murder charges were approved by a grand jury in Dinwiddie County on all 10 defendants on Tuesday.

“I was relieved to learn that those 10 monsters and crooks had been charged. At a press conference, Caroline Ouko, the mother of Mr. Otieno, declared that this was just the first step in her son’s struggle for justice.

Mr. Otieno’s relatives have previously compared the footage to torture and described it as heartbreaking and disturbing. They have asked the US Department of Justice to get involved in the case.

Ben Crump, a well-known civil rights attorney who also represented the family of George Floyd, is defending the family’s interests.

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Mr. Crump claimed that Mr. Otieno’s treatment was very similar to Mr. Floyd’s treatment before his death in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020, and Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP civil rights organization, made a related claim.

“Police are simply not a substitute for compassionate and informed mental health professionals,” according to Mr. Johnson.

“Rather than neglecting and criminalising the black community, we need action to make sure no one experiences or witnesses this kind of violence at the hands of law enforcement ever again.”