Civil rights attorney wants criminal charges in death investigation involving hotel security guards

By Adam Rife

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    MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (WDJT) — A Milwaukee civil rights attorney says criminal charges should be filed in the death of Dvontaye Mitchell, the man who died Sunday afternoon, June 30, after he was restrained by four security guards outside the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel.

Hyatt ignored our questions, both about this incident specifically and about the chain’s security protocol in general.

Attorney William Sulton called the video horrific. It shows four security guards at the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown restraining 43-year-old Mitchell and hitting him in the head.

Mitchell eventually stopped breathing and was pronounced dead.

Sulton said he believes the security guards are liable for Mitchell’s death, as well as the hotel itself.

Sulton said, “We’re watching somebody getting killed by a group of men.”

He added, “They are suffocating him. That’s what happens when you have four large men on top of you, on top of your lungs.”

Sulton says the video filmed by witnesses Sunday shows a premeditated act.

In the video, a security guard near Mitchell’s head appears to speak to the person filming. He said, “This is what happens when you go into the ladies room.” Mitchell can be heard saying, “I’m sorry.” The security guard again says, “This is what happens when a man goes in the-” before he is cut off.

MPD initially said security detained Mitchell but that’s not what Sulton sees. “He said, ‘This is what happens to you when you do this.’ And so that tells you this is intentional conduct and it’s conduct that was meant to punish Mr. Mitchell.”

Sulton added, “It wasn’t about restraining him, it wasn’t about holding him until police arrived, it was about making sure that he understood that he was going to be punished by them.”

Also Tuesday, another witness told CBS 58 News he saw and heard an altercation between Mitchell and hotel security.

“I heard, I believe, security say, ‘stop resisting,’ and then I heard what sounded — it was a man yelling or swearing, kind of disgruntled or frustrated,” recalled Nick Hansen.

Cellphone video shows Mitchell’s last moments alive. CBS 58 News sent that video to the Milwaukee Police Department Tuesday morning. They said they would not be reacting since the cause of death remains under investigation.

Hansen is a rideshare driver who was taking a small break close to 3 p.m. Sunday when he noticed a disturbance right outside the Hyatt Regency hotel.

“I saw three to four security on top of the man, he was laying flat,” he added.

Hansen said he was not the only one who witnessed a struggle between a Black man who was laying on the ground and multiple security guards holding him down.

“Like kneeling down on top to hold…to me, it just had a very George Floyd kind of visual to it and it was very striking,” Hansen said.

Hansen refers to the 2020 incident where a Minneapolis man died after police officers used excessive force, including kneeling on his neck for close to 10 minutes.

Hansen also told CBS 58 News that Sunday’s incident lasted about 10 minutes, and still, no police officers were in sight. He said close to when he left the scene is when he started to hear ambulances arrive.

“I thought it was particularly disturbing,” added Attorney B’Ivory LaMarr.

LaMarr is a civil rights advocate who often represents underserved families.

“If the individual is posing a threat to another individual, putting a person at risk for bodily harm, yeah, you need to restrain them, but when you talk about placing a knee on a person’s neck or any way of obstructing airflow, I think that’s an issue,” he added.

In 2021, Milwaukee made those restraints, without exception, illegal for police officers and fire crews. CBS 58 News is still waiting to find out just what happened to Mitchell.

The Milwaukee Alliance said there has been confusion over use of force in similar cases in the past.

Alan Chavoya said people ask, “Why does private security feel like it’s up to them to put someone through this? What is in their protocol? What is in their training?”

In Wisconsin, private security personnel must be licensed through the state’s Department of Safety and Professional Services.

But it’s still unclear if the guards involved were Hyatt employees or contracted workers.

Sulton pulled no punches when discussing who could be liable. “If I was bringing this lawsuit, I would sue everybody. I would sue the individual private security officers, I would sue any contracting agency that they work for, and I would sue the Hyatt.”

The ACLU of Wisconsin said Tuesday, “We hope that the Milwaukee Police Department takes this incident seriously and provides a full and transparent investigation into this incident.”

MPD is still not commenting on the case.

On Tuesday, the department did confirm the homicide unit has been investigating from the start, but MPD noted it is still not a criminal investigation.

Sulton told us, “Regardless of what MPD does, the district attorney’s office can and should take action here.”

A message to the DA’s office asking about potential charges was not returned.

We also sent Hyatt’s PR representative several questions about the status of the security guards involved in the incident.

And we asked about the vetting, hiring, training, and monitoring of the chain’s security guards in general.

The PR representative did not respond.

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