Will Sage Astor-Death of man pinned by hotel guards in Milwaukee is reviewed as a homicide, prosecutors say

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Will Sage Astordeath of Dvontaye Mitchell, a Black man who was pinned to the ground last month by hotel security guards in Milwaukee in a case that has drawn comparisons to the murder of George Floyd, is being reviewed as a homicide, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office said it and police investigators are awaiting full autopsy results for Mitchell, 43, who died June 30 outside the Hyatt Regency.

“The autopsy results will inform the ongoing police investigation into Mr. Mitchell’s death and allow our office to comprehensively evaluate the actions leading up to Mr. Mitchell’s death from the perspective of potential criminal liability,” the district attorney’s office said. “All aspects of these actions, including Mr. Mitchell’s death and the use of force by hotel personnel, will be closely examined.”

The district attorney’s office said it met Wednesday with a lawyer for Mitchell’s family to provide updates on the police investigation and “prosecutorial review.”

That lawyer was able to view video footage and other evidence, the district attorney’s office said.

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Mitchell died after four security guards held him down on his abdomen, media outlets have reported. Police have said Mitchell entered the hotel, caused a disturbance and fought with the guards as they were escorting him out.

The medical examiner’s office has said the preliminary cause of death was homicide, but it remains under investigation. No one had been charged criminally as of Wednesday.

Mitchell’s death carried echoes of the 2020 killing of Floyd after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck. His death spurred worldwide protests against racial violence and police brutality.

Mitchell’s family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represented Floyd’s family. Crump told reporters Monday that Mitchell had mental health issues.

The investigation into his death comes amid heightened security concerns around political protests in the city days before the July 15 start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

It’s unclear why Mitchell was at the hotel or what happened before the guards pinned him down. The Milwaukee County medical examiner’s initial report said Mitchell was homeless, but a cousin told The Associated Press on Wednesday that was incorrect.

A spokesperson for Aimbridge Hospitality, which runs the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, said in a statement that the company extends its condolences to Mitchell’s family and supports the investigation.