MADISON, Wis. – On Tuesday, prosecutors charged four Milwaukee hotel employees with involvement in premeditated murder in connection with the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell.
Mitchell was black. The incident has drawn comparisons to the murder of George Floyd, a black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked a national reckoning with race relations, marked by numerous protests across the country.
Hotel security guard Todd Erickson, receptionist Devin Johnson-Carson, bellhop Herbert Williamson and security guard Brandon Turner were charged. If convicted, they each face up to 15 years and nine months in prison.
When reached by phone Tuesday evening, Erickson referred requests for comment to his attorney, Michael Steinle, who did not respond to voicemails or emails.
It was unclear whether any of the other three employees had a lawyer. None of them were listed in online court records Tuesday evening. A phone book with Williamson’s name was no longer accessible and The Associated Press could not find 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 had been issued for all four employees. The district attorney’s office and Milwaukee police 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 restroom and held him on his stomach for eight or nine minutes. One of the employees told investigators that Mitchell was having trouble breathing and repeatedly pleaded for help, according to the complaint.
An autopsy revealed that Mitchell suffered from morbid obesity and had taken cocaine and methamphetamine, the indictment said.
Surveillance video from the Hyatt hotel shows Mitchell frantically running into the hotel lobby and then into the gift shop before entering the women’s restroom, the complaint says. A few seconds later, a woman comes out and Turner, who is off-duty but happens to be visiting with employees, drags Mitchell by his shirt out of the restroom and into the lobby.
The two begin to fight, and Turner punches Mitchell, knocking him to the ground. He then punches Mitchell six times and, with the help of a passerby, drags him out of the hotel. Mitchell gets up and tries to go back inside.
Williamson, Johnson-Carson and Erickson, who was on duty as security manager, then intervened in the altercation. Together with Turner, they held Mitchell on his stomach for eight to nine minutes before police and emergency responders arrived. The video shows Mitchell trying to free himself several times during this time and Erickson hitting him with a baton before he finally stopped moving, according to the complaint.
In a video taken by a witness, Mitchell can be heard moaning and saying he was sorry. An autopsy revealed that Mitchell was morbidly obese and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.
The county medical examiner ultimately concluded that Mitchell died of “restraint asphyxia.” He may 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 repeatedly fought back and tried to bite him. However, the security guard said he never intentionally hurt or harmed Mitchell.
Turner told a detective he heard women screaming in the bathroom after Mitchell entered it, and he thought Mitchell was drugged. At one point, as the group restrained Mitchell, he pulled Mitchell’s clothing from his face, he said, according to the charges.
Johnson-Carson told investigators that Mitchell was “mentally unstable” and spoke “gibberish,” the complaint says.
He said he remembered Mitchell saying “stop” and “why” and something about breathing while he was being restrained. He told Williamson to stop pushing, which Williamson did. Johnson-Carson said Mitchell “showed clear signs of extreme distress, including choking, labored breathing and repeated cries for help,” the complaint states.
The complaint concludes that staff must have known Mitchell was in distress. “All of these factors, DM’s gasping, his actions and words, the distress he was in, demonstrate that all four defendants were aware that holding DM face-first on the ground would ‘virtually certain’ result in a deterioration of his physical condition,” the complaint states.
Mitchell’s relatives and their lawyers had previously reviewed surveillance video from the hotel provided to them by prosecutors. They described seeing Mitchell being chased into the hotel by security guards and then dragged outside and beaten.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is part of a team of lawyers representing Mitchell’s family, said a video taken by a bystander and circulating on social media shows security guards pressing their knees on Mitchell’s back and neck.
Crump released a statement on X on Tuesday evening 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 wondered why it took weeks.
“These people are being filmed taking my husband’s life,” she said. “They should have been charged the moment they did it.”
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that operates the hotel, had previously stated that several employees involved in Mitchell’s death had been fired.
The company issued a statement Tuesday evening saying it has cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so. “Our condolences 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.
