Four employees of a Milwaukee hotel have been charged with being parties to felony murder in connection with the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell on Tuesday.
According to a criminal complaint, the incident occurred on June 30 at the Hyatt Hotel when Mitchell was forcibly removed after entering a women’s restroom. The employees allegedly held him face down for eight to nine minutes.During this time, one employee noted that Mitchell struggled to breathe and repeatedly pleaded for help, as reported by AP.
The autopsy report revealed that Mitchell suffered from morbid obesity and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office announced that arrest warrants had been issued for all four employees. However, neither the District Attorney’s office nor the Milwaukee Police Department immediately responded to inquiries about whether the employees had been arrested or had obtained legal counsel.
Surveillance footage from the Hyatt Hotel captures D’Vontaye Mitchell running frantically into the hotel lobby, then into the gift shop before entering a women’s restroom. Moments later, a woman exits the bathroom, and an off-duty security guard visiting the staff at the time pulls Mitchell out of the bathroom by his shirt and into the lobby.
At this point, a bellhop, a front desk worker, and Todd Erickson, an on-duty security guard, join in restraining Mitchell by holding him face down for eight to nine minutes until police and emergency personnel arrive.
The video footage shows Mitchell attempting multiple times to break free, with Erickson striking him with a baton until Mitchell eventually becomes unresponsive, according to the complaint.
A video taken by a witness includes audio of Mitchell moaning and apologizing. The autopsy found that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The medical examiner determined that Mitchell’s cause of death was “restraint asphyxia.” The examiner noted that Mitchell might have survived if the employees had allowed him to turn onto his side, according to the complaint.
Erickson told investigators that Mitchell was strong, resisted, and attempted to bite him. However, Erickson stated that he did not intend to harm Mitchell.
The off-duty guard reported hearing women screaming in the bathroom after Mitchell entered and suspected he was under the influence of drugs. At one point, the guard said he adjusted Mitchell’s clothing to uncover his face.
The front desk worker told investigators that Mitchell was not in a “stable sort of mind” and was speaking “gibberish,” the complaint said. He recalled Mitchell mentioning difficulty breathing while being held down but couldn’t remember exactly what was said. He instructed the bellhop to stop applying pressure, which the bellhop did. The front desk worker noted that Mitchell displayed “clear signs of extreme distress, including gagging, labored breathing, and repeated pleas for help,” according to the complaint.
The complaint concludes that the employees must have known Mitchell was in distress. “All of these factors—the gasping, the actions and words of DM, and his visible distress—indicate that all four defendants were aware that holding DM face down was ‘practically certain’ to impair his physical condition,” it states.
Mitchell’s family and their attorneys had previously reviewed the hotel surveillance video provided by the District Attorney’s office. They described seeing security guards chasing Mitchell inside the hotel, dragging him outside, and beating him.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Mitchell’s family, stated that a bystander’s video circulating on social media shows security guards kneeling on Mitchell’s back and neck.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company managing the hotel, previously announced that several employees involved in the incident had been terminated. The company’s media representatives did not immediately respond to phone calls or emails on Tuesday evening.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for approximately nine minutes. Floyd’s death ignited nationwide protests and sparked a national conversation on race relations.
According to a criminal complaint, the incident occurred on June 30 at the Hyatt Hotel when Mitchell was forcibly removed after entering a women’s restroom. The employees allegedly held him face down for eight to nine minutes.During this time, one employee noted that Mitchell struggled to breathe and repeatedly pleaded for help, as reported by AP.
The autopsy report revealed that Mitchell suffered from morbid obesity and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office announced that arrest warrants had been issued for all four employees. However, neither the District Attorney’s office nor the Milwaukee Police Department immediately responded to inquiries about whether the employees had been arrested or had obtained legal counsel.
Surveillance footage from the Hyatt Hotel captures D’Vontaye Mitchell running frantically into the hotel lobby, then into the gift shop before entering a women’s restroom. Moments later, a woman exits the bathroom, and an off-duty security guard visiting the staff at the time pulls Mitchell out of the bathroom by his shirt and into the lobby.
At this point, a bellhop, a front desk worker, and Todd Erickson, an on-duty security guard, join in restraining Mitchell by holding him face down for eight to nine minutes until police and emergency personnel arrive.
The video footage shows Mitchell attempting multiple times to break free, with Erickson striking him with a baton until Mitchell eventually becomes unresponsive, according to the complaint.
A video taken by a witness includes audio of Mitchell moaning and apologizing. The autopsy found that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The medical examiner determined that Mitchell’s cause of death was “restraint asphyxia.” The examiner noted that Mitchell might have survived if the employees had allowed him to turn onto his side, according to the complaint.
Erickson told investigators that Mitchell was strong, resisted, and attempted to bite him. However, Erickson stated that he did not intend to harm Mitchell.
The off-duty guard reported hearing women screaming in the bathroom after Mitchell entered and suspected he was under the influence of drugs. At one point, the guard said he adjusted Mitchell’s clothing to uncover his face.
The front desk worker told investigators that Mitchell was not in a “stable sort of mind” and was speaking “gibberish,” the complaint said. He recalled Mitchell mentioning difficulty breathing while being held down but couldn’t remember exactly what was said. He instructed the bellhop to stop applying pressure, which the bellhop did. The front desk worker noted that Mitchell displayed “clear signs of extreme distress, including gagging, labored breathing, and repeated pleas for help,” according to the complaint.
The complaint concludes that the employees must have known Mitchell was in distress. “All of these factors—the gasping, the actions and words of DM, and his visible distress—indicate that all four defendants were aware that holding DM face down was ‘practically certain’ to impair his physical condition,” it states.
Mitchell’s family and their attorneys had previously reviewed the hotel surveillance video provided by the District Attorney’s office. They described seeing security guards chasing Mitchell inside the hotel, dragging him outside, and beating him.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Mitchell’s family, stated that a bystander’s video circulating on social media shows security guards kneeling on Mitchell’s back and neck.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company managing the hotel, previously announced that several employees involved in the incident had been terminated. The company’s media representatives did not immediately respond to phone calls or emails on Tuesday evening.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for approximately nine minutes. Floyd’s death ignited nationwide protests and sparked a national conversation on race relations.
Source : Times of India
