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Relatives call for transparency after the fatal meeting of an unarmed graduate from Morehouse College with California MPs during a mental health episode.
"We are asking for the possibility of a closure," said Ebele Okobi, sister of Chinedu Valentine Okobi, at a press conference Tuesday. "We ask the opportunity to bury it properly."
Okobi, 36, of Redwood City, Calif., Died Oct. 3 after two San Mateo County Sheriff's deputies shocked him several times with stun guns, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The victim's connection with social media giant Facebook has made history known – the latest example of deadly encounters between unarmed black men and police – nationwide. His sister is Facebook's director of public policy for Africa, and his colleagues used the network to spread Okobi's story.
John Burris, a family attorney, told the Mercury News that Okobi was walking down a street in downtown Millbrae when he started getting in and out of the oncoming traffic. Millbrae is south of San Francisco.
According to Mr. Burris, the deputies aggravated the situation by not calling for the help of a doctor and resorting to the use of their stun guns, which is generally considered a non-lethal force .
Okobi tried to run. He was taken to the ground by five sheriff's deputies, Burris told Mercury News, and a witness reported seeing Okobi sprawling under a foam around his mouth. He was later declared dead at the hospital.
READ MORE: Civil rights lawyer asks for pictures of a fatal encounter
Chinedu Okobi, a graduate of Morehouse College, was recalled at the commemoration Tuesday in San Fransisco.
(Channel 2 Action News)
Authorities say Okobi, who weighed 6 feet 3 inches and weighed 330 pounds, assaulted a deputy who tried to contact him, which led to a fight, the newspaper reported. A deputy was treated in a hospital for injuries.
Okobi was seen wandering in the area on Oct. 3 in a mobile phone video posted on Snapchat and obtained by Channel 2 Action News. Surveillance footage at a nearby hotel captured some of the interaction with MPs, but authorities have not yet released other audio and video recordings, reported the Mercury News newspaper. Burris calls for the immediate publication of all the recordings.
Ebele Okobi told a local ABC affiliate that his youngest brother's mental health problems had started when he was a student at Morehouse.
"It's when he was studying for the GMAT that he had a psychotic break," she said in an interview with KGO-TV.
After graduating, Okobi had a daughter with his college sweetheart and returned home to California, reported the television channel. His sister said he had been with Home Depot for several years, but lost his job in January, probably because of his declining mental health.
"My feeling is that he does not take his medication and that he is paranoid because he's not taking his medication," said Ebele Okobi.
Her brother has always been "terrified" by the forces of order, she said.
"When he saw police officers, he became really paranoid and really scared, and then he started running away from them," said Ebele Okobi. And they took the fact that he was scared for nonconformity. "
San Mateo County Attorney Steve Wagstaffe is investigating the incident. He told KGO-TV that the story was not just about history, but his office is not ready to publish their findings as long as the probe will not have completed.
"It was not right on the street because it was my concern at first," Wagstaffe said. "Was all this jaywalking? But that was not it. "
Family and friends remembered Okobi during a commemorative ceremony on Tuesday.
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