Irvo Otieno’s mom says 7 charged deputies ‘tortured’ him ‘worse than a dog’

The mother of Ervo Otieno, a Virginia man allegedly murdered by seven deputies in a mental hospital, “traumatizing” video shows him “tortured” like an animal.

“My son was treated like a dog, worse than a dog,” Caroline Ouko said Thursday after viewing “heartbreaking,” “disturbing” and “traumatic” footage of her 28-year-old son’s March 6 death. Said after.

– Advertisement –

“My son was tortured. I saw torture,” she said of “seven officers on one man,” which allegedly included her son kneeling on his neck, similar to the death of George Floyd.

“He was treated inhumanely. It was painful – and it was systematic,” she said, adding that the abuse “went on and it went on until she took her last breath.”

advertisement

“He was murdered! They took my baby’s breath out. They murdered my baby,” she said, fighting back tears as she added: “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else.”

– Advertisement –

She told of her pain that “no one stood up to help”. was kind of stopped.

“Mental illness should not be your death ticket. There was a chance to save him,” she said. “We have to do better.”

Otieno’s older brother, Leon Ochieng, said he was returning home to his Virginia home for the weekend when it turned into a “tragic, senseless, inhumane nightmare”.

“Words cannot describe what I saw today,” he said of the footage of his brother’s death.

“What I saw was a lifeless human being, without any representation. He had no regard for human life,” he said.

“I saw a murder. Never in my life did I think I would see my own brother being murdered,” he said, pausing to embrace his mother after being overwhelmed.

Seven deputies have been charged with second-degree murder: Randy Joseph Boyer, 57, Dwayne Allen Bramble, 37, Jermaine LaVar Branch, 45, Bradley Thomas Deese, 43, Tabitha Renee LaVere, 50, Brandon Edwards Rodgers, 48, and Kyle Dejour Sanders, 30.

Acclaimed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, said the video showed Otieno pinned down for approximately 11 to 12 minutes before his death from asphyxiation.

Crump said, “You see in most of the video that he is lifeless and in the middle of unconsciousness, but you still see him so brutally kneeling on his neck.”

“He has the weight of seven men on his body as he lies face down, his legs shackled. … It’s so unnecessary, it’s so unfair.”

Otieno’s mother proudly said that her son—who was 4 when they moved from Kenya to America—was “as American as apple pie.”

“He was a leader” with a “big heart” who “cared that people were treated right,” she said.

“Now I have his voice,” she said of the recording the aspiring musician left behind.