Family relieved as 4 hotel workers accused of murder in Black man's restraining death

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged four hotel workers with murder in the death of a Black man in Milwaukee during an incident with security weeks ahead of the Republican National Convention in a case that some have compared to the murder of George Floyd.

D'vontaye Mitchell, 43, died after being held down by four security guards outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel hotel on June 30.

Mitchell was escorted out of the hotel following a disturbance and subsequent fight, Milwaukee police said. The reported disturbance was 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.

The case garnered national headlines after video posted on social media showed Mitchell crying for help as he was 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!"

Read also: Family outraged as Black man dies at the hands of security in Milwaukee ahead of RNC

On Tuesday, Milwaukee County prosecutors charged Devin Johnson-Carson, 23; Brandon Turner, 35; Herbert Williamson, 53, and Todd Erickson, 60, with murder.

Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Mitchell's family, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the "legal team and the family are relieved the district attorney is filing charges."

"But we can't be satisfied until we get a conviction," said Crump.

"We're going to keep fighting until we get full justice for this family. And we're going to keep showing up … to make sure they don’t just get a slap on the wrist."

The case has drawn similarities to Floyd's murder 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.