A black detained man in Virginia died earlier this month while being taken to a psychiatric hospital. On the 16th local time, relatives and lawyers said after viewing the hospital's surveillance video that he was kneeled by several police officers for more than ten minutes while his hands and feet were handcuffed.
Seven police officers and three hospital employees involved were charged with second-degree murder.
"12 minutes of pain"
The victim, Ilvo Otino, 28 years old, living on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia's capital, suffers from mental illness. He was arrested by the police when he fell ill on the 3rd of this month and is detained in a prison under the Henriko County Sheriff's Office. According to the police, Otino was escorted to the hospital by the police of the county sheriff's office on the 6th of this month for treatment, and died while undergoing admission procedures.
Ortino's relatives and lawyers held a press conference on the 16th after viewing the hospital's surveillance video, asking the Ministry of Justice to intervene in the investigation.
His mother, Caroline Oko, said: "What we saw today is heartbreaking, disturbing and deeply traumatizing. My son was abused. ”
Lawyer Mark Crudes said the video showed Otino handcuffed to his hands and feet before being crushed to the ground by seven police officers. "You can see them doing their best. All parts of his body were brutally suppressed. ”
Crudice said that from the video, police did not come to the rescue as soon as possible after finding Otino motionless and not breathing.
Another lawyer, Ben Krump, who represented the 2020 death of black man George Floyd by police kneeling, said that Otino experienced "painful 12 minutes" of being pressed to the ground by police, and "it is shocking that nearly three years after George Floyd was brutally killed by the police, another person died in almost exactly the same way."
On May 2020, 5, Floyd died nearly nine minutes after being pinched to the neck by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking long, large-scale protests against racism and excessive police violence across the United States.
Nearly three years later, incidents of police-related racial violence in the United States are still frequent. In January, Tyre Nichols, a black man, was beaten to death by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, reigniting discussion in the United States about reforming the police system.
The video seen by Otino's relatives on the 16th was not made public, but prosecutor Ann Cabel Baskerville described the video content at the first trial of the case on the 15th. The Richmond Times Express quoted Baskerville's claims as reporting that Otino sat in a chair and did not show aggression before being dragged to the ground by police.
The medical examiner has not released a final report on the cause of Otino's death. Baskerville identified Otino as dying of asphyxiation.
Baskerville announced on the 16th that after the second-degree murder charges against 14 police officers on the 7th, the prosecution filed charges against 16 hospital employees on the 3th, and may add charges or arrest others.
"Inhuman treatment" in prison
On the 3rd, Otino behaved abnormally due to mental problems, which triggered the neighbor's alarm. According to the lawyer, when the police arrived, Otino's mother agreed to take him to the hospital for treatment in order to avoid the situation getting worse. According to the police, the police originally planned to take Otino to the hospital for a mental evaluation, but he was arrested and sent to prison after showing "aggression" towards the police at the hospital.
Relatives and lawyers also viewed prison surveillance video on the 16th. They suspect that Otino not only did not receive the medical treatment he needed in prison, but also that he might have been subjected to abuse.
Crudice and Krump said the video showed police using pepper spray on Otino; He was stripped naked, handcuffed and locked up in a cell covered with filth; Before going to the hospital on the 6th, several police officers entered the cell, carried the "basically lifeless" Otino hands and feet, and carried him to the car "like an animal".
"My son was treated like a dog, not even as good as a dog," Oko said. ”
Prosecutor Shannon Taylor said on the 16th that she was investigating what happened in prison on the 6th, and the results of the investigation will be released later.
According to the Associated Press, Otino moved to the United States with his family from Kenya as a child, grew up in the suburbs of Richmond, excelled in music and sports, and aspired to become a musician.
At the press conference, Oko held a photo of his son and said: "I can never attend his wedding again, see him have children... Because some people refused to rescue him, no one stepped forward to stop what was happening. (CCTV News Client)