Otieno family settles wrongful-death suit with state, Henrico County

The family of a Henrico County man who died while in law-enforcement custody at Central State Hospital earlier this year has agreed to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit against the state and Henrico County.

Late Wednesday, the attorneys representing Irvo Noel Otieno’s family announced the settlement of the lawsuit. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but The Associated Press reported it was for $8.5 million.

"The family is pleased that they were able to find a resolution outside of court in a manner that honors Irvo’s life,” read a statement from Ben Crump and Mark Krudys.

The settlement was agreed to on Sept. 19, according to online records from the Henrico County Circuit Court.

In a statement to The Progress-Index late Wednesday, Henrico County spokesperson Ben Sheppard wrote the following: "Henrico County continues to offer its heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Otieno. A claim brought by the family of Irvo Otieno against Henrico County, the Henrico County Sheriff and the Commonwealth of Virginia has been resolved. In accordance with the terms of the settlement, which requires confidentiality, Henrico County is unable to provide additional comment."

Otieno died March 6 when 10 Henrico County Sheriff’s deputies and CSH security personnel restrained him on the floor of an intake unit at the Dinwiddie County state hospital. The 28-year-old suffocated to death after being pinned down by the authorities for 11 minutes.

All seven deputies and the hospital personnel were indicted on second-degree murder charges related to Otieno’s death. Since then, the county commonwealth’s attorney’s office has dropped charges against two of the CSH personnel.

Otieno, who suffered from mental illness, was brought to the hospital on the third day of being in Henrico’s custody. He was under investigation for a burglary in his neighborhood when he was taken by Henrico authorities first to a county hospital and then to a county jail.

Henrico deputies claimed Otieno became combative and tried to escape when they got him to the hospital. His family said Otieno had been off his medication since being taken into custody and there was no way he could have been struggling.

Video from the intake room showed a shackled Otieno as being extremely lethargic when he was brought into the hospital. After 11 minutes under the weight of the deputies and CSH personnel, Otieno stopped moving and died despite more than an hour’s worth of efforts to resuscitate him.

The case drew comparisons to the 2020 death of George Floyd while in custody of police in Minneapolis. Video from that arrest showed a police officer with his knee across the neck of a face-down Floyd, who could be heard muttering, “I can’t breathe.”

That utterance became a catchphrase of the subsequent demonstrations over unequal treatment of Black and White suspects while in custody. Some of the larger demonstrations happened in Richmond.

Crump, a Florida attorney known for his civil-rights defense work, took on representation of the Otieno family alongside Krudys, a well-known civil-rights lawyer in Virginia. Rev. Al Sharpton officiated over Otieno’s funeral March 29 in Chesterfield County.

Otieno’s family also has been calling for the Department of Justice to get involved in the prosecutions of the case, citing the small size of the Dinwiddie prosecutor’s office. The former prosecutor in the case had said she would welcome federal involvement, but there has been no movement in that direction as of now.

That prosecutor, Ann Cabell Baskervill, got direct warrants – warrants issued by the court instead of a magistrate – to have the suspects arrested. She stepped down in June to move to Europe, and the person appointed by Dinwiddie judges to fill the job on an interim basis is also a candidate in November’s contested election for the position.

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 X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Otieno family settles wrongful-death suit with state, Henrico County