Milwaukee’s hotel management company announced late Wednesday night that it has fired employees accused of being involved in the death of a black man who was pinned to the ground outside a downtown Milwaukee hotel.
Aimbridge Hospitality said in a statement that it was “saddened and shocked by what happened to D’Vontay Mitchell at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee and offers its deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”
“The actions of several employees on June 30th violated our company policies and procedures and do not reflect our values as an organization or the behavior we expect from our employees. Following an investigation into their actions, their employment has been terminated. We will continue our own independent investigation and will do all we can to assist law enforcement in their investigation of this tragic incident.”
In an earlier statement, Hyatt said it “supports the family of D’Vontae Mitchell’s demands for transparency, accountability and justice for this senseless tragedy. We believe the Aimbridge Hospitality employees involved should be fired and criminal charges should be filed.”
The family is also seeking charges.
Mitchell, 43, Died at the Hyatt Regency According to media reports, police said that after four security guards held him down on his stomach, Mitchell entered the hotel, caused a disturbance and fought with employees who tried to remove him from the hotel, a claim that the family disputes.
The medical examiner’s office said the provisional cause of death was homicide, but the cause remains under investigation. So far, no one has been charged with a crime.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that investigators from the office and police are awaiting full autopsy results and that the case is being reinvestigated as a homicide.
Samantha Mitchell/AP
Mitchell’s family is furious and upset
Surveillance and body camera footage viewed by Mitchell’s family and lawyers at the district attorney’s office on Wednesday showed an unarmed man running away while being punched and kicked, the family and lawyers said at an afternoon news conference.
“What I saw today was horrible. It makes me sick,” said Mitchell’s widow, Deasia Harmon. “He ran for his life. He was trying to get away. He said, ‘I’m going,’ but they wouldn’t let him go.”
Harmon said the video showed a bleeding Mitchell being dragged out of the hotel. “They didn’t stop. They could have let him go and they didn’t,” she said.
Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer, said the family’s legal team also obtained a signed affidavit from a hotel employee who said the security guards were hitting Mitchell with batons, but that Mitchell, who was on the ground, posed no threat. The employee said the security guards ordered him and a bellboy to hold him down, Crump continued.
Another lawyer, William Salton, said hotel video showed a hotel security guard on duty taking photos of Mitchell’s body while he was being questioned by police. “It’s just horrible,” Salton said.
“I can tell you, having seen it up close, it’s much worse,” Mitchell’s sister, Neisha Mitchell, told CBS Milwaukee affiliate WDJT-TV after viewing the video.
“It was especially painful to see the faces of those involved and know they have no remorse whatsoever,” Deasia Harmon told the station.
Salton told WDJT that authorities’ initial explanation that security officers detained Mitchell after he entered the women’s restroom was incorrect. “An off-duty security officer assaulted Mr. Devontay. Mr. Devontay ran from the individual,” Salton said.
Salton added that Mitchell went into the women’s restroom to escape the attacker, after which Hyatt employees, including a bellboy and a front desk clerk, dragged him out.
“They slammed his head into the ground so hard that he was bleeding from his forehead, nose and mouth,” Salton said.
Salton told WDJT that Mitchell did not instigate the incident. “There was no criminal conduct by D’Vontay Mitchell,” Salton said.
It’s unclear why Mitchell was at the hotel or what happened to him before he was subdued by security. The Milwaukee County coroner initially reported that the suspect was homeless, but his cousin told The Associated Press on Wednesday that was incorrect.
Crump said a video taken by a bystander and circulating on social media also showed officers used excessive force to subdue Mitchell.
“In the video, the guard can be seen with his knee on Mitchell’s back and neck,” Crump said, and the guard appears to strike Mitchell in the head with an object. “The guard can be seen pulling Mitchell’s shirt over his head, suppressing not only his voice but his breathing.”
Sean Moore told CBS News on Tuesday that he witnessed part of the incident while walking to a nearby Walgreens to buy groceries for his son, and said he heard screaming so he walked to the hotel.
Moore said the four guards didn’t get off of Mitchell until police arrived at the hotel, recalling, “One of them had him by the ankles and the other three had him pinned down from the waist up.”
Mitchell’s cousin, Samantha Mitchell, 37, said Mitchell was born and raised in Milwaukee and had no diagnosed mental illness.
“Dvontay loved to cook,” she says. “He was very protective of his family, especially his younger cousins. He was also a joker. He got along really well with many of his male cousins growing up and enjoyed life together.”
Republican Convention, George Floyd, Racial Justice
She said the family moved the funeral from Saturday to Thursday so its importance wouldn’t be overshadowed by the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which starts next week.
“We need to keep this issue in the light, not sweep it under the rug,” Mitchell said. “Regardless of when the convention is held, no matter what party you’re on, this issue still demands everyone’s attention. I hope that people who attend the convention will talk about this issue. That will say a lot.”
Mitchell’s death is the latest flashpoint in the nation’s reckoning with race. What is perceived as systematic brutality against black people by law enforcement and those in power. It has been four years since a white police officer killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020.
“With so many big events coming up in Milwaukee, the murder of D’Vontae Mitchell is just as important as anything else that happens in Milwaukee this month,” Mayor Crump told reporters Monday.
Crump also represented the family of Floyd, whose death sparked global protests against racism and police brutality.
“After the George Floyd incident, all Americans should have been training their employees, especially security guards, not to put their knee on someone’s back or neck,” Crump added.
