CNN
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Hotel employees were fired after a black man died last month after being restrained by hotel security guards outside a Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee. The incident was partially captured on video.
“The conduct of several employees on June 30 violated our policies and procedures and does not reflect our values as a company or the behavior we expect from our employees,” Aimbridge Hospitality, operator of the downtown hotel, said Thursday in a statement about Dvontaye Mitchell’s death.
“After reviewing her actions, her employment has been terminated,” the statement continued. “We will continue our independent investigation and do everything we can to assist law enforcement in their investigation of this tragic incident.”
It is unclear how many “hotel employees” were fired and whether they include the security guards involved in the Mitchell incident. Those security guards were initially suspended while Aimbridge Hospitality completed its investigation, a Hyatt spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
A police spokesman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that police have filed four murder charges in connection with Mitchell’s death. Police have been consulting with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office since July 5 and have subsequently filed charges, but prosecutors have not yet made a decision, Sergeant Efrain Cornejo told the Journal Sentinel.
CNN has reached out to Milwaukee police and the district attorney’s office for more information.
Mitchell, 43, was at the Hyatt Regency on June 30 when police say he “caused a disturbance,” and security escorted him out of the hotel, according to a statement from civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Mitchell family. Security guards and others then pinned Mitchell to the ground, according to a video posted on social media. Mitchell can be seen grunting and pleading with the guards, repeatedly saying “please” and “I’m sorry.”
As the video shows, one security guard, who appears to be white, can be heard saying “stay down” and “stop fighting” while the others, who appear to be people of color, hold Mitchell down. The same security guard yells to witnesses, “This is what happens when you go to the ladies’ room.”
When police arrived, Mitchell was unresponsive despite life-saving measures and was pronounced dead, Milwaukee police told CNN on Tuesday, without mentioning Mitchell by name. It is unclear what led to Mitchell’s encounter with security guards, how long it took for officers to arrive at the scene and what Mitchell was doing at the hotel.
The encounter took place against a backdrop where the use of violence – particularly against people of color – by police and other authority figures remains under scrutiny almost four years after nationwide protests erupted following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
“The decision to fire the Hyatt security staff demonstrates how unjustified Dvontaye’s death truly was,” Crump said in a statement Thursday. “After viewing the video from inside the hotel with prosecutors, it is entirely understandable and appropriate that this staff was fired for the assault and excessive use of force against Dvontaye that resulted in his death.”
“Your father was somebody,” Sharpton says in his eulogy
“Today, Dvontaye’s family will bury him with heavy hearts, and although his family can never bring him back, today is about honoring and remembering the man he was,” Crump said in a statement before the funeral.
At Mitchell’s funeral on Thursday, family members took to the podium to honor his life, recall shared memories and talk about what they loved about him – while continuing to advocate for justice in his name.
Mitchell was known for his creativity in the kitchen and loved all things artistic, according to his obituary read during the funeral on Thursday.
“Dvontaye was an avid family man who spent his time visiting with his children and family, and he beamed with joy on every face when he entered the room,” it continued.
Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy and offered to pay for Mitchell’s funeral and promised each of Mitchell’s children $5,000 for their education.
“I want them (Mitchell’s children) to know that I and other people will tell you about your father later in life, but I want you to know that your father was somebody,” Sharpton said.
While Sharpton said firing the hotel employees was a good step, it is not enough to provide justice for Mitchell’s family.
“I thought after the George Floyd case and after we fought until three cops went to jail, you all learned that you can’t bring us to our knees,” Sharpton said.
Hyatt has joined Mitchell’s family “in their calls for transparency, accountability and justice for this senseless tragedy,” the hotel chain said Wednesday, adding that charges will be brought against the Aimbridge Hospitality employees involved.
The local prosecutor is investigating Mitchell’s death as a homicide, he said Wednesday. But Milwaukee police are not considering the incident a criminal investigation because there is no evidence of “blunt force,” Crump said.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office is awaiting the full results of Mitchell’s autopsy, which will “serve as the foundation for the ongoing police investigation” into his death and “will allow our office to fully evaluate the actions that led to his death from the perspective of potential criminal liability,” District Attorney John Chisholm said in a statement Wednesday.
Crump’s office obtained an affidavit from an unidentified hotel employee who claimed he reluctantly helped detain Mitchell after being asked to do so by a security guard, the attorney said. Crump said he would turn the document over to prosecutors but did not release it publicly.
