HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A year and a half after beginning an investigation into the incidents leading up to Irvo Otieno’s in-custody death at a state psychiatric hospital, Henrico County’s chief prosecutor said “we’ll never know” whether any crimes occurred at the jail where Otieno was held before he died.
For the first time, Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor discussed the high-profile case publicly and shared her concerns about how it was handled.
“Mr. Otieno lost his life for no good reason,” Taylor told CBS 6 reporter Tyler Layne. “We have a situation where we have a young person who’s in crisis and the system failed him.”
WTVROtieno died at Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County on March 6, 2023, as the video showed him being restrained on the floor of an admissions room by Henrico sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees for up to 12 minutes…