MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors charged four Milwaukee hotel employees Tuesday with being parties to aggravated homicide in connection with The death of D’Vontaye Mitchell.
Mitchell was black. The incident generated comparisons with the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death triggered a national reckoning on race relations, marked by several protests across the country.
The accused were hotel security guard Todd Erickson; front desk employee Devin Johnson-Carson; porter Herbert Williamson; and safety Brandon Turner. If convicted, each of them could face up to 15 years and nine months in prison.
Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Erickson referred a request for comment to his attorney, Michael Steinle, who did not return a voicemail or email.
It was unclear whether any of the other three employees had lawyers. Online court records did not list any of them as of Tuesday night. A telephone directory for Williamson was disconnected, and The Associated Press was unable to immediately locate phone numbers or other contact information for Johnson-Carson or Turner.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office said in a news release that arrest warrants have been issued for all four employees. The office and the Milwaukee Police Department did not immediately respond to emails asking whether the employees had been arrested or had attorneys.
According to a criminal complaint, the four employees dragged Mitchell out of the Hyatt Hotel on June 30 after Mitchell entered the women’s bathroom and held him face down for eight or nine minutes. One of the employees told investigators that Mitchell was having trouble breathing and repeatedly begged for help, according to the complaint.
One autopsy showed that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had ingested cocaine and methamphetamine, the complaint said.
Surveillance video from the Hyatt shows Mitchell frantically running into the hotel lobby and then into the gift shop before entering the women’s restroom, the complaint said. A few seconds later, a woman emerges and Turner, who was off duty but happened to be visiting the team at the time, drags Mitchell out of the bathroom and into the lobby by his shirt.
The two begin fighting and Turner punches Mitchell, knocking him to the ground. He then punches Mitchell six times and drags him out of the hotel with the help of a bystander. Mitchell gets up and tries to go back inside.
Williamson, Johnson-Carson and Erickson, who was on duty as security manager, enter the fray. Along with Turner, they hold Mitchell face down for eight to nine minutes before police and emergency personnel arrive. The video shows that during this time, Mitchell tries to free himself several times, and Erickson hits him with a bat before he stops moving, according to the complaint.
A video taken by a witness includes audio of Mitchell moaning and apologizing. An autopsy found that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The county medical examiner ultimately ruled that Mitchell died of “restraint asphyxiation.” He could have survived if staff had allowed him to turn onto his side, the medical examiner said, according to the complaint.
Erickson told investigators that Mitchell was very strong and continued to resist and tried to bite him. But the guard said he never did anything to intentionally hurt or harm Mitchell.
Turner told a detective he heard women screaming in the bathroom after Mitchell entered and thought Mitchell was on drugs. At one point, as the group held Mitchell down, he pulled Mitchell’s clothes off his face, he said, according to the complaint.
Johnson-Carson told investigators that Mitchell was not in a “stable mind” and was speaking “nonsense,” the complaint said.
He said he remembered Mitchell saying “stop” and “why” and something about breathing while being held down. He told Williamson to stop applying pressure, which he did. Johnson-Carson said Mitchell exhibited “clear signs of extreme distress, including choking, labored breathing and repeated pleas for help,” according to the complaint.
The complaint concludes that employees should have known Mitchell was in danger. “All of these factors, the heavy breathing, DM’s actions and words, the distress he was in, show that all four Defendants were aware that holding DM face down on the ground was ‘virtually certain’ to cause harm to his condition. physics,” the complaint says.
Mitchell’s relatives and his lawyers had already hotel surveillance video reviewed provided by the Public Ministry. They described seeing Mitchell being chased inside the hotel by security guards and then dragged outside, where he was beaten.
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.
Crump posted a statement on X on Tuesday night calling the charges “a significant step toward justice for the family of D’Vontaye Mitchell!”
DeAsia Harmon, Mitchell’s widow, said Tuesday the decision was a relief. But she questioned why it took weeks.
“These people are on camera taking my husband’s life,” she said. “They should have been charged the moment they did it.”
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, previously said several employees involved in Mitchell’s death had been fired.
The company released a statement Tuesday night saying it has fully cooperated with law enforcement authorities and will continue to cooperate with prosecutors. “Our hearts go out to Mr. Mitchell’s family and loved ones as this case moves forward,” the statement said.
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Associated Press writer Kathleen Foody in Chicago contributed to this report.
