GhLinks Media
Three hospital employees identified as Darian Blackwell, Wavie Jones, and Sadarius Williams and 7 Sheriff’s deputies have officially been charged with second-degree murder after Irvo Otieno, a 28 year-old Black man died in police custody.
The three Central State Hospital employees were arrested and charged in Virginia state court.
Details of 3 hospital employees charged with murder of Irvo Otieno
- Darian Blackwell is 23 years old
- Wavie Jones is 34 years old
- Sadarius Williams is 27 years old
Details of 7 deputies charged with murder of Irvo Otieno
- Randy Joseph Boyer is 57 years
- Dwayne Alan Bramble is 37 years
- Jermaine Lavar Branch is 45 years
- Bradley Thomas Disse is 43 years
- Tabitha Renee Levere is 50 years
- Brandon Edwards Rodgers is 48 years
- Kaiyell Dajour Sanders is 30 years
What happened ?
On March 3, Otieno was arrested by Henrico County police who were responding to a report of a possible burglary, according to a police news release.
The officers, accompanied by members of the county’s crisis intervention team, placed him under an emergency custody order.
The officers transported him to a hospital where authorities say he assaulted three officers. Police took him to county jail and he was booked.
On March 6, Otieno was taken to a state mental health facility in Dinwiddie County and died during the intake process, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill.
“They smothered him to death,” the prosecutor said.
A preliminary report from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond identifies asphyxiation as a cause of death, the commonwealth attorney’s office said in a statement.
Otieno was held on the ground in handcuffs and leg irons for 12 minutes by seven deputies, Baskervill said.
