Ben Crump, others demand better treatment for mental health patients

has become another high-profile example of a Black man suffering mental illness being killed in custody.

Mr. Otenio’s mother, Caroline Ouko, and brother Leon, sat up front with Mr. Crump during the discussion.

Mr. Otenio, a high school athlete and rap recording artist, was suffocated to death like George Floyd while being admitted to Central State Hospital March 6 following three days of abuse at the Henrico County Jail, where video evidence shows he was pepper-sprayed and beaten while being held naked in a cell.

In Mr. Otenio’s case, 10 people, including seven Henrico sheriff’s deputies, are facing charges up to murder for piling onto Mr. Otenio’s body for nearly 12 minutes while he was handcuffed and shackled in a front lobby of the hospital.

“Just as George Floyd said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ Irvo Otenio said, ‘I can’t breathe,’” Mr. Crump said, calling the two parallel