SEVEN COPS KNEEL ON A MAN FOR ELEVEN MINUTES UNTIL HE DIES

Irvo Otieno (28) died two weeks ago at the hands of the American police. Born in Kenya, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Henrico (US state of Virginia) on March 6 –but he is fighting back.

A group of police officers pushed the man, whose hands and feet were tied, to the ground. Then, they kneel on Irvo Otieno for more than eleven minutes until he stops breathing.

A surveillance camera recorded the last moments of the African American’s life. Excerpts from the recording show how hospital staff stands around while the police crush the mentally ill man. Then, when he no longer reacts, paramedics try to revive him.

An autopsy determined that Irvo Otieno suffocated. Seven police officers and three hospital workers were charged with manslaughter. Prosecutor Ann Cabell Baskervill believes Otieno died under the weight of the officers.

Caroline Ouko, the dead man’s mother, also makes serious allegations against the police and the hospital.

“All of my son’s systems failed,” she said on Monday.

“They set a trap for him.” As a result, his family claims he was deprived of medication for three days.

Irvo Otieno had been mentally ill for years. He was living with his mother when, according to her, he started having mental problems again three days before his death. Otieno tore lights from a neighbor’s front yard and knocked on the door. A neighbor suspected that it was a burglar and called the police.

Officers took Otieno into custody and took him to a hospital for a check-up. There he is said to have attacked police officers. The native Kenyan was then put in a detention center.

On March 6, Otieno was taken to a hospital one last time. What happened in the final minutes of his life will be the subject of the trial. The scenes published by the “Washington Post” and the “New York Times” only summarize the surveillance footage. According to officials, Otieno behaved “aggressively” during the briefing, so he was restrained.

The case is already reminiscent of the murder of African American George Floyd on May 25, 2020. The white police officer Derek Chauvin had pressed his knee on the African American in Minneapolis for around nine and a half minutes. However, Floyd repeatedly complained that he was not getting any Air. For months, especially African Americans across America protested against police violence. Then, a year later, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years for murder.