MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former security guard at a Milwaukee hotel has pleaded guilty in the killing of a man who died after being pinned to the ground for several minutes.
Brandon Turner and three other Hyatt Hotel employees were charged last summer with one count of being a party to felony murder in connection with D’Vontaye Mitchell’s June 30 death.
Turner agreed to a plea deal and could receive probation in exchange for testifying against the other men charged in the case, according to WDJT-TV. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.
The Associated Press left phone messages Thursday seeking comment from Turner’s lawyer and prosecutors.
According to court documents and video, Mitchell ran into the Hyatt’s lobby and entered the women’s bathroom. Two women later told investigators that Mitchell tried to lock them in the bathroom.
Turner and a hotel guest scuffled with Mitchell and eventually dragged him out of the lobby onto a hotel driveway. Security guard Todd Erickson, bellhop Herbert Williamson and front desk worker Devin Johnson-Carson joined Turner in pinning Mitchell down for eight to nine minutes, according to court documents. By the time emergency responders arrived Mitchell had stopped moving.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Mitchell was morbidly obese and suffered from heart disease. He also had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system. The office determined he suffocated and ruled the manner of death as homicide.
Attorneys for Mitchell’s family have likened his death to the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes. Mitchell also was Black. Court records identify Erickson as white and Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson as Black.
The four workers told investigators Mitchell was strong and tried to bite Erickson but they didn’t mean to intentionally harm him.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, fired the four workers in July.
Court records show a March 13 plea hearing for Williamson, a March 30 plea hearing for Johnson-Carson and a June 27 pre-trial hearing scheduled for Erickson.
