Four hotel workers charged with murder after restraining Black man

Milwaukee County prosecutors in Wisconsin charged four people with murder Tuesday after they beat or restrained a Black man as he died outside a hotel in June, a case that has drawn comparisons to George Floyd’s killing.

D’Vontaye Mitchell, 43, died June 30 after four Hyatt Regency Milwaukee employees dragged him from the hotel and pinned him face down to the concrete.

His family members have said they believe he was having a mental health episode.

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office charged Devin W Johnson-Carson, 23; Brandon LaDaniel Turner, 35; Herbert T Williamson, 53, and Todd Alan Erickson, 60, with murder in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

According to a criminal complaint released Tuesday afternoon, the chain of events that led to Mitchell’s death began after he ran across the hotel lobby “in what appears to be a frantic manner” – first heading into a gift shop, then into a women’s restroom, where Mitchell attempted to lock himself inside with two women who were already there.

Turner, a security guard, grabbed Mitchell’s shirt and began to escort him toward the lobby before Mitchell punched him in the jaw, court records state. The three other defendants then joined the scuffle.

In surveillance video, Mitchell’s “behavior is erratic and confusing, and he engages in continuous physical resistance against the men,” an investigator wrote in the complaint. “But (Mitchell) does not instigate any violence or display any obviously aggressive or threatening behavior while on the hotel premises.”

The video then shows Mitchell getting tackled to the floor. According to the complaint, Turner, Johnson-Carson and Erickson hit Mitchell as they attempted to pin him down. All four defendants are accused of holding Mitchell down while he died.

While restraining him on the ground, the men “put varying amounts of force” on Mitchell’s back, shoulders and arms, according to the complaint.

Johnson-Carson could hear Mitchell saying “stop” and “why,” he later told police. Johnson-Carson, a front-desk worker at the hotel, said he also remembered Mitchell “urgently” saying something about breathing but could not recall what Mitchell said, the complaint states.

Williamson, a bellhop, told police that Mitchell was “still very aggressive” by the time they held him down and that he and the others kept telling Mitchell to calm down, the complaint states. Williamson said he thought Mitchell was still responsive as he climbed off him.

“The next thing you know, I realized he was unconscious,” investigators wrote Williamson said.

The struggle on the ground lasted about 10 minutes.

“Towards the end of that time period, (Mitchell) has stopped showing movement or resistance or other signs of life,” the complaint states.

According to court records, Johnson-Carson said he realized Mitchell had died once police arrived, adding that neither he nor the other defendants “ever state that they believed that (Mitchell) was not breathing” while he was pinned to the ground. He also stated in the sworn affidavit that he “witnessed (Mitchell) take his final breaths and understood that the cause of his death was due to the extreme, unnecessary, and flagrant force administered to him, despite his clear indications of distress and lack of resistance.”

Johnson-Carson and Williamson said Erickson, a security guard, struck Mitchell with a collapsible baton. Erickson told investigators that he did not recall hitting Mitchell with the baton and that he did not do anything to intentionally harm Mitchell.

In an interview with Milwaukee’s Fox affiliate, Williamson said he was pulled into the “commotion” after co-workers told him to help the security guards hold down Mitchell.

“I was in fear that I was going to lose my job,” Williamson told Fox 6. A few days later, he was placed on paid leave and ultimately fired.

When asked whether he had a message for Mitchell’s family, Williamson said: “I am very, truly sorry, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” he said, his voice breaking. “I hate to see a man lose his life.”

Authorities issued arrest warrants for all four men. As of Tuesday evening, none appeared to be in custody at the Milwaukee County jail, according to online records. It’s unclear whether they had retained attorneys.

Aimbridge Hospitality, which operates the hotel, said last month that it fired several employees after Mitchell’s death.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner’s office ruled Mitchell’s death a homicide caused by restraint asphyxia and the effects of cocaine and methamphetamine.

In 2020, Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck for several minutes, starting a national wave of protests against police use of force, especially against Black men. Four officers were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights during his murder.

In Milwaukee, Mitchell’s family has hired attorney Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family. He compared the men’s deaths and called Tuesday’s charges “a significant step towards justice.”

“The evidence … paints a disturbing picture of a man in distress who was met with excessive and lethal force,” Crump said in a statement. “The charges filed today are an important step, but they are just the beginning. D’Vontaye’s life mattered, and his story will not be forgotten.”

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Ben Brasch, Anumita Kaur, Jiselle Lee and Justine McDaniel contributed to this report.