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A week and a half after the brutal death of a 28-year-old black man in a psychiatric hospital in Virginia, his relatives have made serious accusations against the police. “My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog,” US media quoted the victim’s mother, Caroline Ouko, as saying on Thursday (local time). “My son was tortured.”
Prior to that, she and other family members watched surveillance video that prosecutors said showed police officers suffocating Irvo Otieno. The video has not been released to the public.
video «very clear»
Otieno died March 6 at a state mental health facility during the recording process after being transferred there from a prison, prosecutor Ann Cabell Baskervill said. Otieno was handcuffed and ankle cuffed and kept on the ground by the seven police officers for eleven minutes. “He died of suffocation because he was crushed.” Baskervill said the surveillance video was “extremely clear” and “extremely alarming,” according to CNN. The police officers and three hospital employees have been charged with manslaughter.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who previously provided legal support for the family of George Floyd, an African-American man killed in a police operation, said the video shows how inhumane law enforcement officers treated people experiencing mental health crises: criminals, not humans who needed help. Otieno posed no threat. “He is not violent or aggressive towards them.” You can see how he appears to be unconscious, yet “brutally fixed with a knee on his neck”.
He wanted to be a hip-hop musician
Crump compared the scenes in the video to the death of George Floyd in May 2020, who was handcuffed, pinned to the ground and restrained by Minneapolis police officers. According to the Washington Post, two lawyers for Otieno’s family have called on the Justice Department to investigate the incident.
Otieno’s mother, Ouko, said her son, who wanted to be a hip-hop musician, was mentally ill. He also had psychological problems when he was arrested on March 3 for an alleged burglary. Three days later he was hospitalized. According to the police, he became “belligerent” there and was restrained.
In the United States there are regular deadly police operations of a similar nature, representative of which is the case of George Floyd: in May 2020, the African-American was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. The case sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism. Since then, there has always been dismay at similar cases. (SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
