Al Sharpton will pay tribute to Dvontaye Mitchell

MILWAUKEE — The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to deliver a eulogy for a Black man who died last month after being pinned to the floor by security guards at a Milwaukee hotel, his office said Tuesday.

Dvontaye Mitchell’s death drew comparisons to the murder of George Floyda black man killed in 2020 after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck.

Sharpton, a longtime activist and leader who serves on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said in a news release that he will speak at Mitchell’s funeral on Thursday. O Republican National Convention opens a few days later, on July 15, and law enforcement agencies are preparing for political protests around the convention arena in Wisconsin’s largest city.

Sharpton said convention attendees need to know about Mitchell’s death.

“We cannot watch the murder of Dvontaye Mitchell be erased by the RNC coming to town, where they will solidify an appointee whose vision of justice is pure brute force,” Sharpton said, referring to former President Donald Trump.

Mitchell, 43, died June 30 at the Hyatt Regency after four security guards held him face down, news outlets reported. Police said Mitchell entered the hotel, caused a disturbance and fought with guards as they escorted him out.

Mitchell’s family hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family. His death spurred protests around the world against racial violence and police brutality.

It’s unclear why Mitchell was at the hotel or what happened before guards arrested him. The Milwaukee County medical examiner’s initial report said Mitchell was homeless, but his family told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this is not correct. Sharpton said in a news release announcing his visit to Milwaukee that Mitchell’s mother said her son was suffering a “mental health episode.”

Law enforcement officials were still investigating Mitchell’s death on Tuesday, the Journal Sentinel reported. The police department responded to an update request from The Associated Press by emailing a statement saying that an unidentified individual had fought with hotel security guards on June 30 and was unresponsive when officers arrived.

The medical examiner’s office said the preliminary cause of death was homicide, but the cause remains under investigation. No one had been criminally charged as of Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Aimbridge Hospitality, which manages the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, told the Washington Post that the company extends its condolences to Mitchell’s family and supports the ongoing investigation.