Relatives are calling for transparency after an unarmed Morehouse College graduate’s fatal encounter with California deputies during an apparent mental health episode.
“We are begging for the opportunity for closure,” said Ebele Okobi, the sister of Chinedu Valentine Okobi, during a press conference on Tuesday. “We're begging for the opportunity to properly bury him.”
Okobi, 36, of Redwood City, Calif., died Oct. 3 after two San Mateo County sheriff's deputies repeatedly shocked him with stun guns, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The victim’s connection to social media giant Facebook has brought the story — the latest example of deadly encounters between unarmed black men and police — to national prominence. His sister is Facebook’s public policy director for Africa, and her colleagues have used the network to help spread Okobi’s story.
John Burris, an attorney for the family, told the Mercury News that Okobi was walking down a street in downtown Millbrae when he had a “mental break” and began stepping in and out of oncoming traffic. Millbrae is south of San Francisco.
Authorities claim Okobi, who was 6-foot-3 and 330 pounds, “immediately assaulted” a deputy who tried to make contact with him, and there was a struggle, the newspaper reported.
Burris said deputies escalated the situation by not calling for medical help and resorting to use of their stun guns, which is typically considered non-lethal force.
Okobi ran but was taken to the ground by five sheriff’s deputies, and a witness reported seeing Okobi slumped over with foam around his mouth, the newspaper reported. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
One deputy was treated at a hospital for injuries.
READ MORE: Civil rights attorney demands footage of fatal encounter
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Okobi was seen wandering in the area on Oct. 3 in a cellphone video posted to Snapchat and obtained by Channel 2 Action News. Surveillance footage at a nearby hotel captured part of the interaction with deputies, but authorities have not yet released any other audio and video recordings, the Mercury News reported. Burris is demanding the immediate release of all recordings.
Ebele Okobi told a local ABC affiliate that her youngest brother’s mental health issues started when he was a student at Morehouse.
"It was when he was studying for the GMAT that he had a psychotic break," she said in an interview with KGO-TV.
After he graduated, Okobi had a daughter with his college sweetheart and moved back home to California, the news station reported. He had worked at Home Depot for the last several years, his sister said, but lost his job in January, presumably because of his declining mental health condition.
"My feeling is that he's not on his medications and that he's paranoid because he's not on his medications," Ebele Okobi said.
Her brother has always been “terrified” of law enforcement, she said.
"When he saw police officers he got really paranoid and really scared and then he started running away from them,” Ebele Okobi said. “And they took the fact that he was scared as non-compliance."
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe is investigating the incident. He told the KGO-TV there is more to the story, but his office is not ready to release their findings until the probe is complete.
“It wasn't just standing in the street because that was my concern at the beginning,” Wagstaffe said. “Was this all over a jaywalking? But it wasn't."
Family and friends remembered Okobi during a memorial service Tuesday.
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