D’Vontaye Mitchell, who died after being pinned to the ground in Milwaukee, died from asphyxia and drugs, autopsy report says

By Raja Razek and Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — D’Vontaye Mitchell, the 43-year-old man who was pinned to the ground in June by security officers outside a Hyatt Regency hotel in Milwaukee, died from “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine,” according to an autopsy report released Friday by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office.

The manner of death is homicide, the report states.

When asked by CNN whether the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office plans to pursue or file charges in the case, the office said: “Right now, we have no comment.”

Mitchell died June 30 after he was pinned down by hotel security guards in an incident partially captured on video. Hotel employees have been fired since the incident, and police have referred four charges of felony murder in Mitchell’s death, Milwaukee police said in a statement to CNN at the time. A homicide investigation is ongoing.

“This 43-year-old male was restrained by four people after being combative in the hotel lobby,” an investigation report from the medical examiner’s office states. “He reportedly went unresponsive while staff awaited police arrival. Illicit drug paraphernalia was found on his person. The decedent was conveyed to this office for an autopsy.”

The encounter unfolded as the use of force – particularly against people of color – by police and others in authority roles remains under scrutiny nearly four years after protests flared nationwide following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

In a statement, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Mitchell family, said the findings from the medical examiner’s report “demand immediate charges against the officers involved.”

Mitchell’s mother believes he was suffering from a mental health episode, and cell phone video footage corroborates accounts of witnesses who reported seeing “three to four security guards with their knees on Mitchell’s neck and back and one of them striking him in the head with an object.”

“Mitchell was in the midst of a mental health crisis and, instead of abiding by their duty to protect and serve, the security officers and other Hyatt staff used excessive force that inflicted injury resulting in death,” the statement continued. “We will not rest until we achieve justice for Mitchell and his grieving family.”

New details emerge about what happened

According to the medical examiner’s investigation report, Mitchell “entered the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and appeared to be frantic and panting.

“He was noted by staff and hotel guests hiding behind various objects throughout the lobby. He tried to hide in the concession area but was told to leave by hotel staff,” the report states.

Mitchell “ran into the women’s restroom and attempted to lock himself inside with other females using the restroom,” the report continued. “The women inside began to scream, so two hotel security staff gained entry into the restroom and removed Dvontaye. He reportedly became combative with security and attempted to reach into their pockets. Security personnel struggled to subdue him and began to physically drag him out of the hotel through the front entrance.”

Two other hotel employees assisted the two security personnel once Mitchell was outside, the report states. “He was still combative, so all four employees held him down on the concrete face down until MPD arrived,” the report says. “It was unknown at this time where the hotel staff restrained Dvontaye and to what extent.”

Part of a video posted on social media shows security guards and others pinning Mitchell to the ground. Mitchell grunts and pleads with the guards, repeatedly saying, “Please,” and “I’m sorry,” the video shows.

One of the guards, who appears to be White, can be heard saying, “Stay down,” and “Stop fighting,” as the others, who appear to be people of color, hold Mitchell down, the video shows. The same guard is heard calling out to witnesses, “This is what happens when you go into the ladies room.”

When officers arrived, Mitchell was unresponsive and pronounced dead despite lifesaving measures, Milwaukee police have said, without mentioning Mitchell by name.

Mitchell was punched, dragged out of hotel onto sidewalk, video footage shows

During a Friday evening news conference, Mitchell family attorney William Sulton painted a different picture from the medical examiner’s report, playing several more videos from the incident, including security camera footage that revealed for the first time a view from inside the Hyatt as employees were removing Mitchell from the building.

The footage shows Mitchell being dragged across the floor inside the lobby, and from another angle outside that shows employees holding him down on the ground.

“The first time I saw it, I couldn’t even get it out of my mind … I’ve never forgotten what this looks like, and now that it’s made public, I have to make sure that my daughter doesn’t see it,” Mitchell’s widow, DeAsia Harmon, said at the news conference. “This is somebody I spent 12 years of my life with and now I have to watch his life being taken for nothing.”

The Mitchell’s family attorney claims he had been shown these new videos by the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office, but the office didn’t provide copies of the videos to him. They were obtained after Sulton subpoenaed the medical examiner’s office, he says.

CNN has contacted the Milwaukee Police Department for comment on the videos.

At the beginning of the news conference, Sulton showed photos of injuries Mitchell suffered to his head, which had been repeatedly slammed to the ground during the encounter, he said. In the photos, Mitchell’s eyes are swollen, red and purple, and his face bloodied.

“So, when you hear people say, ‘oh, all we did was hold him down, all I did was do what I was being told’ – none of that is true. They slammed his head into the ground multiple times, pressed his head into the ground. This is the photographic proof of that,” the family’s attorney said.

Sulton continued to play the security camera videos at the news conference, and at one moment pointed at a man wearing a red shirt who he identified as a guest of the Hyatt hotel, along with another man in a black shirt, who he said is an off-duty security officer.

“You can see they’re dragging Mr. Mitchell behind,” Sulton said. “At no time, will you see Mr. Mitchell punching anyone, kicking anyone. In fact, it’s apparent he’s just trying to get up.”

The video showed the Hyatt guest forcibly pulling Mitchell out of glass doors in the entrance of the hotel building. Mitchell is seen in the video struggling with his clothing falling off while the hotel guest pulls his clothing to drag him out of the doors, before the security officer approaches them again, along with another woman employee who then picks up a broomstick and appears to strike Mitchell in the leg.

Seconds before that, the security officer is seen putting his hand out to stop his woman co-worker from hitting Mitchell.

The video then shows Mitchell’s pants falling down as a man punches Mitchell in the face multiple times, while he’s being dragged on the floor and then outside on the sidewalk by the Hyatt guest, the two Hyatt employees and an additional employee.

Another video from a security camera pointing at the sidewalk shows two additional Hyatt employees approach the group, one of whom appears to hit Mitchell with a walkie-talkie and kick him in the face while Mitchell remains on the ground.

Sulton said all four Hyatt employees had the ability “to simply wait for police to show up if that’s what they feel is necessary. They don’t do that.” The attorney said the security officer “waved over” the two additional employees outside, even though they are a desk agent and bellhop with “no legal right to detain him or arrest him or to engage in any of this behavior.”

“This is just a straight-up beat down,” he said, adding the security agent should have intervened and had ample opportunities to do so, but instead contributed to Mitchell’s pain. Mitchell also suffered broken ribs, said the attorney. “This is how he got them,” he continued.

Company says several people were fired

Aimbridge Hospitality, the hotel management company that operates the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee, said “several associates” were fired after the incident.

“The conduct we saw from several associates on June 30 violated our policies and procedures, and does not reflect our values as an organization or the behaviors we expect from our associates,” the company said in a June statement.

“Following review of their actions, their employment has been terminated,” the statement said. “We will continue our independent investigation and do everything we can to support law enforcement with their investigation into this tragic incident.”

CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji, Ray Sanchez, Rebekah Riess and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.