Mother of murdered Central State patient says deputies, hospital staff 'smothered my son'

DINWIDDIE – Caroline Ouko did not pull any punches in describing how she feels her son died earlier this month.

“They tortured him to death,” an emotional Ouko said during a news conference outside the Dinwiddie County Courthouse Thursday afternoon. She later said through tears, “My son was treated like a dog … worse than a dog!”

The “they” she referred to are the seven Henrico County deputies charged with second-degree murder in the death of Irvo [pronounced EYE-voh] Otieno, 28, on March 6 at Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County. According to video from CSH surveillance, the seven deputies are seen throwing Otieno in handcuffs to the floor and lying across him, including one with their knee on the back of his neck, for more than 11 minutes.

“They smothered my baby,” Ouko said.

The news conference was called to introduce Ben Crump as co-counsel for Otieno’s family. Crump is a nationally known civil-rights attorney who featured prominently in several high-profile cases involving the deaths of Black citizens at the hands of law-enforcement personnel.

At the same time the news conference was going on, Dinwiddie commonwealth’s attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill announced that three CSH employees have been arrested in Otieno’s death, bringing the number of suspects in the case to 10.

The employees are Darian M. Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg, Wavie L. Jones, 34, of Chesterfield, and Sadarius D. Williams, 27, of North Dinwiddie. All three are being held at the Meherrin River Regional Jail in Brunswick County.

They join the seven deputies -- Jermaine Lavar Branch, 45; Bradley Thomas Disse, 43; Randy Joseph Boyer, 57; Dwayne Alan Bramble, 37; Tabitha Rene Levere, 50; Brandon Edward Rodgers, 48; and Kalyell Dajour Sanders, 30. Branch and Disse were able to post bond and are out of custody. Four of the remaining five are at Meherrin River. Sanders is being held at Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover County.

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The state medical examiner's office in Richmond has tentatively ruled Otieno's cause of death as asphyxia, and the manner of death as homicide.

The hour-long news conference, which drew local and national news reporters to Dinwiddie, took place after Crump, co-counsel Mark Krudys and Otieno’s family were shown the videos of Otieno’s treatment both at the local jail in Henrico and later at CSH. They all said they could see no evidence of Otieno being disruptive or violent as the deputies had claimed. Instead, as Crump said, they saw “almost a lifeless body” in handcuffs and leg chains being manhandled by deputies.

Three days before his death, Otieno, who had a history of mental-health struggles, was a person of interest in a burglary and theft in his Henrico neighborhood. Officers took him from his home to Henrico Doctor’s Hospital for a check-up and then to the county’s western jail complex.

Oyko said she was never allowed to see her son. The last time she saw him was when he was being led away, and video from a cell phone at the scene depicted her as comforting her son and telling officers he suffered from mental issues.

At the jail in Henrico County, they said, a surveillance video showed Otieno handcuffed and naked in the cell with feces on the floor purported to be his when deputies came in and began striking him. When he was taken from Henrico to CSH, he was shirtless but had on some pants, and was in both handcuffs and leg chains and appeared to be extremely catatonic.

Krudys said the video at CSH showed Otieno seated in a chair at a table in the hospital’s intake area with deputies holding him down. At no time, Krudys said, did Otieno ever attempt to stand up and fight, and was pushed from the chair to the floor and held down.

An underlying message through the news conference was the claim that people with mental health problems should not be treated as criminals. Otieno had a history of mental-health issues.

Crump said the cruelty in which Otieno was seen being treated was unbelievable and unnecessary. Otieno was not putting up any struggle and was cuffed the whole time.

The CSH video showed not only the deputies restraining Otieno but also the three CSH employees who were arrested. Everyone else, Krudys said, appeared to be standing around “with their hands in their pockets” and not trying to intervene.

"What we just viewed on the video leading to the death of Irvo was a commentary on how inhumane law-enforcement officials treat people who are having a mental-health crisis as criminals rather than treating them as people who are in need of help,” Crump said.

Crump likened Otieno’s case to that of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis Police custody in 2020. Video seen around the world showed a police officer with his knee across Floyd’s neck and saying, “I can’t breathe” several times.

“He was just lying there on the floor,” Crump said. “What possible threat could he have been?”

Crump and Krudys said they want the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation. They also said they would like to see Baskervill release the video from Central State, but Baskervill reiterated that is not something she plans to do.

“A key element of that evidence is the surveillance video from Central State Hospital that captures the intake process,” she said. “To maintain the integrity of the criminal justice process at this point, I am not able to publicly release the video.”

Lauren Cunningham, a spokesperson for the state Department of Behavioral health and Developmental Services, said the three Central State employees arrested have been put on administrative leave. Cunningham also said the hospital and DBHDS "are fully cooperating" with the Virginia State Police, the agency leading the investigation.

"We will respect the legal process while we and our staff continue to provide important care to the patients at Central State Hospital," Cunningham said in an email to The Progress-Index.

A grand jury will convene March 21 to determine if charges will be filed against the suspects.

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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Family, attorneys address death of CSH patient in deputies' custody