Death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, Black man pinned down by hotel security, ruled as homicide from asphyxia

Family has called for charges against hotel employees who killed Mitchell

Protesters call for justice for D'Vontaye Mitchell during a march through the streets as the RNC continues on July 18, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Getty Images)

The death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who was filmed in June being pinned to the ground outside a hotel in Milwaukee, was a homicide, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Officer.

Mitchell, 43, died from "restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine,” according to the medical examiner’s report, released on Friday.

The report provides the clearest picture yet of the June 30 death, which sparked local protests and calls for charges against the four hotel employees involved in restraining Mitchell.

The report includes a narrative of what happened in the moments before the killing.

Mitchell entered a Milwaukee Hyatt hotel and appeared “frantic and panting,” hiding behind objects in the lobby, according to the report.

When he was told to leave, he attempted to barricade himself in the women’s bathroom of the hotel, with women inside.

As patrons inside the bathroom screamed, security guards gained entry and removed Mitchell, at which point he became “combative.”

From there, a group of four pinned Mitchell to the ground outside the hotel for roughly 10 minutes, in an incident with similarities to the high-profile murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, which inspired nationwide protests.

Employees told police they “held down his extremities and chest with moderate pressure while Dvontaye was combative.”

“They relieved the pressure while he stopped resisting and applied more pressure when he became combative again,” the report reads, with the employees adding they didn’t restrain Mitchell by the neck, as police did to Floyd.

"The report confirms what we all saw on video, that Mr. Mitchell was murdered by Hyatt security officers," Will Sulton, a lawyer for the Mitchell family, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Mitchell’s family has said the man was in the midst of a “mental health episode” at the time of his death, and have called for charges against the hotel employees.

Earlier this month, the Milwaukee police forwarded four felony murder charges to the local DA’s office for consideration, which has said it would wait on the medical examiner’s findings before making any charging decisions.

The Milwaukee County DA’s Office told The Independent it has no comment on the report at this stage.