A family is outraged after a Black man in Milwaukee died during an incident with security weeks ahead of the Republican National Convention in what some have compared to the murder of George Floyd.
Dvontaye Mitchell, 43, died after being held down by four security guards outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel hotel on June 30.
Milwaukee police have said Mitchell was escorted out of the hotel following a disturbance and subsequent fight, the disturbance being that he walked into a woman's restroom, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Mitchell got into an altercation with security guards, was escorted out of the building and restrained until police arrived. He died at the scene, and a preliminary cause of death was listed as homicide.
Video obtained by CBS58 showed Mitchell crying for help as he's pinned on the ground by the guards' hands and knees. He can be heard yelling "No! Please!" as security guards command him to "Stay down!" and "Stop fighting!"
Police said they arrived to find Mitchell unresponsive. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Mitchell’s sister-in-law Candice Miller told the Journal Sentinel they "treated him like he was nothing, like he was an animal."
Mitchell's attorney has said he had mental health issues. Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that a witness saw a guard hit Mitchell in the head with some sort of object, The Washington Post reported.
“It is deeply troubling that we have lost another Black man in an encounter with security personnel, raising serious concerns about the use of force, lack of accountability, and absence of mental health considerations,” Crump said the statement, according to the Post. “The circumstances surrounding Dvontaye’s death outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel are disturbing and as described by a witness, reminiscent of the killing of George Floyd.”
Brenda Giles, Mitchell's mother, said Monday: “I want justice for my son.”
Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis in 2020. Derek Chauvin, was sent to prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22 ½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
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