MILWAUKEE– The last of four hotel employees charged in connection with The death of D’Vontaye Mitchell was taken into custody on Friday, more than five weeks after he and others allegedly attacked the black man while trying to remove him from a Milwaukee hotel.
Herbert Williamson was taken into custody three days after he and his three co-defendants were charged with participating in manslaughter in Mitchell’s June 30 death at a Hyatt Regency hotel, according to jail records. Milwaukee County.
Williamson, a bellhop at the hotel, and the other three were charged after prosecutors combed through video that showed them stacking Mitchell as they tried to remove him from the hotel lobby before he died.
Williamson, 52, was charged along with hotel security guard Todd Erickson, 60; front desk employee Devin Johnson-Carson, 23; and security guard Brandon Turner, 35. If convicted, each faces up to 15 years and nine months in prison.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, previously said it fired several employees involved in Mitchell’s death.
Williamson, Turner and Johnson-Carson are black, while Erickson is white, according to online court records.
Lawyers for Mitchell’s family compared his death to the murder of George Floyda black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for about nine minutes.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is part of a team of lawyers representing Mitchell’s family, said a video recorded by a bystander and circulating on social media shows security guards with their knees on Mitchell’s back and neck.
According to a criminal complaint, Mitchell ran into the hotel on June 30 and entered the women’s bathroom. One employee dragged him outside and, with the other three, held him face down for eight or nine minutes while Mitchell breathed heavily.
The county medical examiner determined that Mitchell died of “restraint asphyxiation” and noted that he could have survived if staff had allowed him to turn onto his side, according to the criminal complaint.
One autopsy showed that Mitchell was obese and ingested cocaine and methamphetamine, the complaint states.
Erickson was held on $50,000 bail and Turner on $30,000 bail after both made their first court appearances this week, records show. They have preliminary hearings scheduled for August 19. Johnson-Carson had an initial hearing scheduled for Friday. Records did not list the date of Williamson’s initial hearing.
All four remained in custody as of Friday morning, according to jail records.
Attorneys for Erickson and Turner did not immediately respond to messages Friday seeking comment. Court records did not list attorneys for Williamson or Johnson-Carson.
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