The mother of a Black man who died in police custody at a Virginia mental hospital says her son was “brilliant, creative and bright.”
Caroline Ouko, mother of Irvo Otieno, holds a portrait of her son with attorney Ben Crump, left, and her older son, Leon Ochieng at the Dinwiddie Courthouse in Dinwiddie, Va., on Thursday, March 16, 2023. Attorneys for the family of a Black Virginia man who died in police custody say video of the incident shows seven sheriff’s deputies pushing down “every part of his body” with “absolute brutality.” Irvo Otieno had realized his passion: making hip-hop.
Otieno, who was 28, came to the U.S. from Kenya at the age of 4 but he “was as American as apple pie,” his mother said. She added that Otieno wasn’t afraid to offer different perspectives in conversations, to go the other way “when everybody else is following.” Mark Krudys, one of Ouko's attorneys, said that Otieno was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time. He said a neighbor called police over concerns about him gathering lawn lights from a yard.
While he was at the hospital, police said he “became physically assaultive toward officers, who arrested him” and took him to a local jail managed by the Henrico Sheriff’s Office, where he was charged with several crimes.
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