A video published on Tuesday documented the death of a 28-year-old African-American man when he was admitted to a mental hospital as about 10 police and hospital security personnel tried to control him, and the matter sparked controversy and criticism on social media.

The two police officers and security officers have been charged with murder in connection with the death of Irvo Otino on March 6, highlighting the abuses of US law enforcement personnel in treating the mentally ill in particular.

Otino was handcuffed and shackled when police brought him from the Henrico County Jail near Richmond, Virginia, to the Central Hospital in nearby Petersburg.

The Washington Post published a 9-minute video from the hospital's surveillance cameras, which is 27 minutes long of the incident.

Surveillance video shows Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, being pinned to the floor by security officers at a state mental health facility before his death https://t.co/ddPkzxVy3A

— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2023

Registration & Details

Excerpts of the recording show seven police officers bringing Otino, who was barefoot and bare-chested, to a hospital room on March 7.

Although Otino did not resist as the video shows, the officers threw him to the ground for a long time, without the reasons being clear, and one officer prostrated himself and another apparently pressed his head or neck, while up to 10 hospital staff watched, sometimes helping.

Eventually, he stops moving, and attempts by police and hospital staff to resuscitate him fail.

"Why is it when Black people have mental health issues, they aren’t treated as medical issues? They’re treated as criminal issues," @AttorneyCrump said in response to the death of Irvo Otieno in police custody. https://t.co/x2wbLMyl6O pic.twitter.com/Yif4Bz9s8x

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) March 21, 2023

Seven police officers and three hospital staff, most of them also African-Americans, were charged with second-degree murder in connection with the incident.

7 deputies and 3 hospital workers face murder charges in the death of #IrvoOtieno at a Virginia mental hospital. https://t.co/fL4U95kBt4 pic.twitter.com/qPc7FHurQR

— Charles T (@ChuckyT3) March 17, 2023

Police had arrested Ottino three days earlier after he suffered a psychiatric crisis.

After being held for three days in the local prison, he was transferred to the state's central hospital where he died.

Surveillance video shows Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, being pinned to the floor by security officers at a state mental health facility before his death https://t.co/ddPkzxVy3A

— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2023

Suffocation and death

According to the results of the first autopsy, the young man died of asphyxiation while being "physically shackled," Dinwiddie County District Attorney Anne Cable Baskerville said in a statement last week, while his mother, Caroline Oko, said he was "suffering from a mental illness."

"My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog. I saw it with my own eyes. They strangled my son."

The family hired the well-known attorney Ben Crump, who represented the families of a number of African Americans killed or injured in police custody.

Attorneys for the family of a Black Virginia man, Irvo Otieno, who died in police custody say video of the incident shows seven sheriff’s deputies pushing down "every part of his body" with "absolute brutality." https://t.co/4QJvpYeNJG pic.twitter.com/zdq0BRvPq0

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 17, 2023

The lawyer compared the Otino case to the killing of George Floyd, an African-American whose death of asphyxiation in 2020 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer shocked the world, and demonstrations denouncing racism and police brutality.

On social media, activists reposted the video with their views on what happened to the young man, with many of them stressing that what happened was shocking and sad, and a number of them offered their condolences to the family and apologies for what happened from the police.

We will continue to stand alongside #IrvoOtieno’s family as they seek justice for the 28-yo who died in Henrico County Sheriff’s Dept.’s custody. No other family should have to grieve a similar agonizing death of their loved one — join us in calling for accountability! pic.twitter.com/0sIFh1sJmD

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) March 20, 2023