Photo: AFP
Four former Milwaukee hotel employees who pleaded guilty in connection with the 2024 death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, a 49-year-old Black man who was pinned to the ground and beaten, will avoid prison time.
Hotel security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner, front desk worker Devin Johnson-Carson, and bellhop Herbert Williamson were initially charged with felony murder following felony murder following Mitchell's death outside the Hyatt Regency on June 30, 2024.
Mitchell's death unfolded after he was seen "frantically running into the hotel's lobby," gift shop, and a women's bathroom, according to a complaint. Mitchell was then dragged outside the hotel and beaten by the workers. Videos showed the employees kneeling on Mitchell's back and neck, prompting protests across the country and comparisons to George Floyd's murder.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner ruled Mitchell's death was caused by “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine.”
During a sentencing hearing on Wednesday (September 3), Judge David Swanson spared all four men from prison, per NBC News.
Erickson received a suspended two-year prison sentence and two years of probation. Turner received one year of probation. Williamson and Johnson-Carson were sentenced to time served, 10 and 4 days in jail, respectively.
“It feels to me as if we are holding Mr. Erickson up as the person who will pay for all of our sins,” Swanson said. “And a lot of people who aren’t here today are responsible for what happened that day.”
Swanson claimed that inadequate staff training, delayed police response, and Mitchell’s own actions led to his death.
“Mr. Mitchell himself bears some blame here,” he said. “He ingested methamphetamine and cocaine… enough that put him in a frame of mind where he was running through the lobby of a hotel and into the women’s restroom.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Mitchell’s family, previously said Mitchell had been in a mental health crisis and was subjected to "excessive force that inflicted injury resulting in death.” The lack of prison time sparked outrage from the family.
“It is disheartening and it’s disappointing that basically everyone here today is getting away with murder,” DeAsia Harmon, Mitchell’s widow, said.
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