Video shows Virginia hospital patient Irvo Otieno pinned by officers, staff before his death

A large group of sheriff's deputies and employees of a Virginia mental hospital pinned patient Irvo Otieno to the floor until he was motionless and limp, then began unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, newly obtained surveillance video of the incident earlier this month shows.

The footage obtained Tuesday, which has no audio, shows various members of the group struggling with a handcuffed and shackled Otieno, who was Black, for about 20 minutes after being led into a room at Central State Hospital, where he was going to be admitted March 6. For most of that time, Otieno is on the floor being restrained by a fluctuating group that at one point appeared to reach 10 people pressing down on various parts of his body. 

The death has led to second-degree murder charges against seven deputies and three hospital workers and an outcry from his family, who has said Otieno, 28, was brutally mistreated, both at the state hospital and while in law enforcement custody for several days earlier. Attorneys for many of the defendants have said they will vigorously fight the charges.

Relatives of Otieno were shown video from the hospital last week by a prosecutor, Dinwiddie Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill, who said that she planned to publicly release it Tuesday. 

But attorneys for at least two of the defendants sought to block the video's release, arguing that it could hinder a fair trial. The Associated Press obtained it and other footage Tuesday through a link included in a public court filing made by Baskervill. 

According to timestamps in the footage, which was first reported by The Washington Post, an SUV carrying Otieno arrived at the hospital just before 4 p.m. local time. By 4:19 p.m., a different camera shows him being forcibly led into a room with tables and chairs. He is quickly hauled toward a seat before eventually slumping to the floor, initially in a seated position then lying flat. 

As time passes, an increasing number of workers hold him down as he appears to start to move on the floor. Otieno's shirtless body is difficult to see at times, obscured by people at least partly on top of him or someone standing in the way of the camera. 

"He certainly did not deserve to be smothered to death, which is what happened," Baskervill said in court Tuesday. The workers were holding him down, "from his braids down to his toes," she said. 

By the 4:39 p.m. timestamp, someone is taking his pulse and he appears unresponsive. Soon after, as Otieno's body lies still, someone appears to administer two injections. By 4:42 p.m., CPR appears to be underway. Life-saving efforts seem to go on for nearly an hour. At 5:48 p.m., Otieno's body is draped with a white sheet. 

Final autopsy findings have not yet been released, though Baskervill has said multiple times that he died of asphyxiation.

Defence attorneys have raised the possibility that the injections contributed to his death, though Baskervill disputed that Tuesday, saying he was already dead when the shots were administered. 

The link in Baskervill's filing includes audio from Dinwiddie County 911 calls. In one, a caller from the hospital requests an EMS team, saying Otieno, who had been "very aggressive," stopped breathing during attempts to restrain him. Subsequent calls reflected impatience by hospital callers about the length of time that had passed without an EMS crew's arrival. 

On Tuesday, a grand jury in Dinwiddie County signed off on second-degree murder charges for all 10 defendants.

A judge also granted bond for two of the deputies and one hospital employee after hearing arguments from Baskervill and their defence attorneys.