7 minute read
Video shows Irvo Otieno pinned to floor before his death
Continued from A1
Seven deputies and three hospital workers have been charged with second degree murder in Mr. Otieno’s death. Mr.. Otenio’s family said he was brutally mistreated, both at the state hospital and while in law enforcement custody in the preceding days. Attorneys for many of the defendants have said they will vigorously fight the charges.
Advertisement
Relatives of Mr. Otieno were shown video from the hospital last week by a prosecutor, Dinwiddie Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill, who said that she planned to publicly release it Tuesday.
Attorneys for at least two of the defendants sought to block the video’s release, arguing that it could hinder a fair trial. The Associated Press obtained it and other footage Tuesday through a link included in a public court filing made by Ms. Baskervill.
According to timestamps in the footage, which was first reported by The Washington Post, an SUV carrying Mr. Otieno arrived at the hospital just before 4 p.m. By 4:19 p.m., a different camera shows him being forcibly led into a room with tables and chairs. He is quickly hauled toward a seat before eventually slumping to the floor, initially in a seated position then lying flat.
As time passes, an increasing number of workers hold him down as he appears to start to move on the floor. Mr. Otieno’s shirtless body is obscured at times by those restraining him or standing in front of the camera.
“He certainly did not deserve to be smothered to death, which is what happened,” Ms. Baskervill said in court Tuesday. The workers were holding him down “from his braids down to his toes,” she said.
By the 4:39 p.m. timestamp, someone is taking Mr. Otieno’s pulse and he appears unresponsive. Soon after, as Mr. Otieno’s body lies still, someone appears to administer two injections. By 4:42 p.m., CPR appears to be underway. Life-saving efforts seem to go on for nearly an hour. At 5:48 p.m., Mr. Otieno’s body is draped with a white sheet.
Final autopsy findings have not yet been released, though Ms. Baskervill has said multiple times that Otieno died of asphyxiation. Defense attorneys have raised the possibility that the injections contributed to his death, though Ms. Baskervill disputed that Tuesday, saying he was already dead when the shots were administered.
Ms. Baskervill’s filing also included a link to audio from Dinwiddie County 911 calls. In one, a caller from the hospital requests an EMS team, saying Mr. Otieno, who had been “very aggressive,” stopped breathing during attempts to restrain him. Subsequent calls reflected impatience by hospital callers about the length of time that had passed without an EMS crew’s arrival.
On Tuesday, a grand jury in Dinwiddie County signed off on second degree murder charges for all 10 defendants.
“Those 10 monsters, those 10 criminals, I was happy to hear that they were indicted. And that is just the beginning step,” Mr. Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko, said at a news conference Tuesday evening, vowing to fight for justice for her son.
In court, a judge also granted bond for two of the deputies and one hospital employee after hearing arguments from Ms. Baskervill and their defense attorneys.
Caleb Kershner, an attorney for Deputy Randy Boyer, said Mr. Otieno had been “somewhat combative” at the jail and hospital and that there was “significant need” to restrain him.
Mr. Kershner said Deputy Boyer did not realize Mr. Otieno was
Free COVID-19 vaccines
Continued from A1
Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?
The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations: in any danger as he was being restrained because Deputy Boyer was working near his legs.
• Thursday, March 23, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., JYNNEOS shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
• Thursday, March 30, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months to 5 years old and bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, and boosters for age 18 and older, and baby bivalent boosters, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh. virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-8294682).
VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.
Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received. RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 205-3501 to schedule appointments.
New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those age 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those age 18 and older.
As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.
The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.
New COVID-19 cases in Virginia fell 25 percent during the last week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, while data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide dropped 18 percent since last week.
Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico County are at low levels of community COVID-19. No localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 10 were ranked at medium as of last week.
A total of 261 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Tuesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,295,335 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Tuesday, there have been 459,067 hospitalizations and 23,688 deaths reported statewide.
State data available at the time also shows that AfricanAmericans comprised 22.1 percent of cases statewide and 21.8 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 10 percent of cases and 3.8 percent of deaths.
As of Tuesday, Richmond reported a total of 61,368 cases, 1,316 hospitalizations and 553 deaths; Henrico County, 91,949 cases, 1,765 hospitalizations and 1,082 deaths; Chesterfield County, 100,336 cases, 1,772 hospitalizations and 875 deaths; and Hanover County, 29,147 cases, 944 hospitalizations and 348 deaths.
Compiled by George Copeland Jr.
Jeff Everhart, an attorney for Deputy Brandon Rodgers, said his client had been trying to help by moving Mr. Otieno to his side. But Ms. Baskervill said the video shows Mr. Otieno was moved on his side only when someone from the hospital came in and gave that direction.
The Associated Press sought comment about the video from defense attorneys for all the other defendants who have obtained counsel.
Rhonda Quagliana, an attorney for one of the hospital employees, Sadarius Williams, said in an emailed statement that her client was innocent. She said he had only minimal physical contact with Mr. Otieno and did not apply lethal force during the incident.
Douglas Ramseur, who represents another hospital employee, Wavie Jones, asked the judge Tuesday to implement a gag order in the case, arguing that the release of the video and subsequent media attention had damaged the defendants’ ability to get a fair trial. The judge, who granted bond for Jones, declined to grant the order.
Other defense attorneys did not respond to emails or phone calls.
Last week, Mr. Otieno’s family spoke at a news conference after seeing the footage, which they called heartbreaking and disturbing. They have equated his treatment to torture, and they and their attorneys reiterated a call at Tuesday night’s news conference for the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case.
Mark Krudys, a family attorney, pushed back against what he said were “excuses” from defense attorneys about what happened at the hospital, including the assertion raised in court that Otieno had been combative.
“He was just trying to breathe,” Mr. Krudys said. “That’s all he was trying to do.”
The family is also being represented by Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney who also represented the family of George Floyd. Mr. Crump has said Mr. Otieno’s treatment has close parallels with Floyd’s killing in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020, and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson made a similar comparison in a statement Tuesday.
“Police are simply not a substitute for compassionate and informed mental health professionals,” Mr. Johnson said. “Rather than neglecting and criminalizing 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.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton has been asked to deliver the eulogy at Otieno’s funeral, his National Action Network said Wednesday. Details have not been announced.
Lamont Bagby viewed as favorite in election
Continued from A1 upcoming General Assembly elections in which he plans to compete to secure a full four-year Senate term.
Like other state Senate districts, the 9th is disappearing due to redistricting. He would run in the new 14th Senate District, which will include a big chunk of Richmond and a smaller piece of Henrico County.
A victory Tuesday also would continue the 46-year-old Henrico native’s unbroken string of election successes since he first sought the Fairfield seat on the Henrico County School Board in the November 2007 elections. That includes winning the Feb. 26 Democratic “firehouse” primary to get into the state Senate race.
Heading into the election, Delegate Bagby has been endorsed by virtually every elected Democrat and numerous community and religious leaders. The Virginia Public Access Project also reported Delegate Bagby raised $212,000 to fuel his campaign compared to the $580 his Republican rival reported.
Regarded as a progressive Democrat in the House, Delegate Bagby campaigned for the Senate as a champion for women’s reproductive rights, for increased investments in public school, for stronger gun control laws and for paid family leave, expansion of state-paid child care and increases in the minimum wage.
Growing up in Henrico County, he said he never imagined himself in politics.
Instead, “I envisioned myself becoming a teacher or a preacher.”
The son of a truck driver and office manager, he started out as a business teacher at Henrico High School after graduating from Norfolk State University and later adding a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.
But he saw an opportunity to influence school policies and took it with his bid for a School Board seat. Along with his work in the legislature, Delegate Bagby has since sold cars and served as director of operations at the Peter Paul Development Center in Richmond. Currently, he said he is working as a business consultant and investor in commercial real estate.
Mr. Imholt, 70, who was crushed in 2015 when he challenged then Delegate McClellan, is most associated with Rockford, Ill., where he served on the School Board.
A former Hewlett Packard employee, he is a specialist in software development and infrastructure, but is regarded as having little presence in the Richmond-area political scene.