Hotel Operator Fires Security Personnel After Incident Results in Milwaukee Man’s Death
A Hyatt hotel operator fired several security associates on Wednesday for violating policies and procedures after they pinned a man to the ground near the hotel’s entrance. The altercation ultimately resulted in the man’s death last month.
Aimbridge Hospitality, which operates the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Hyatt location, said the actions of the associates did not “reflect our values as an organization or the behaviors we expect from our associates,” a spokesperson tells Security Management. “Following review of their actions, their employment has been terminated. We will continue our independent investigation and do everything we can to support law enforcement with their investigation into this tragic incident.”
The spokesperson declined to answer questions about what the policies and procedures in question were, or if the associates were in-house or contract security officers.
The incident in question occurred on 30 June when D’Vontaye Mitchell, 43, allegedly entered a women’s bathroom at the Milwaukee Hyatt during what his family’s attorney called a mental health crisis. Hotel security officers responded, a fight reportedly ensued, and the officers forcibly moved Mitchell out of the hotel where he was held to the ground and beaten, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Mitchell died at around 4 p.m. local time that day. A medical examiner is conducting an autopsy and reviewing the case as a homicide, but no criminal charges have been filed, the Associated Press reports.
In a press release issued today, the Milwaukee Police Department said evidence on Mitchell’s death is being reviewed by both civilian and sworn investigators.
“On July 5, 2024, felony murder charges with the underlying charge of battery were referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office against four individuals,” the press release said. “These charges are under review and pending with the District Attorney.”
Hyatt did not respond to Security Management’s request for comment, but prior to Aimbridge’s actions it had called for the security officers involved in the incident to be fired. Hyatt also provided video footage of the incident to authorities, which Mitchell’s family was able to review alongside its legal team.
“When he was confronted by the guards, he had his hands up, but was dragged to the floor and beaten, begging for the blows to stop,” according to attorneys who spoke with the Sentinel.
If someone is being disruptive on hotel property, staff can work to trespass the individual by warning the person they are on private property and telling them they need to leave, says Erik Antons, CPP, PSP, former chief security officer with a large hotel organization who also has experience leading security programs in the federal government, energy, and manufacturing sectors.
After the warning, the person should be given the opportunity to leave. If the person chooses not to exit the premises, however, hotel personnel can act to physically remove that person or call the police to remove the person, Antons explains.
“We would always encourage our security directors to allow the police to go hands-on for a number of reasons—largely the liability reason—unless that person presented an exigent threat to themselves, our staff, or our guests,” Antons adds. “In that case, we would do what was necessary with the least amount of force to get them off property.”
Hotels may struggle with this, however, since many are franchises with limited resources for security. This means that they may be using low-paid security personnel who do not have a high-level of training, Antons says.
“You typically get what you pay for,” he adds. “So for that reason, you’re probably not going to have the retired police officer who understands the use of force continuum, who has experience employing the use of force continuum….your average guard gets about 40 hours of training before they’re thrown into a job, and quite possibly half of that is on-the-job training.”
This means that things can become complicated very quickly when an incident occurs and security personnel are not sure how to handle it.
“When under stress, we tend to revert to our lowest level of training,” Antons says. “So for someone with very limited training, a hands-on situation becomes very complex very quickly.”
It is critically important for security officers to have de-escalation training that prioritizes safety and minimizes potential conflicts, says Eddie Sorrells, CPP, PCI, PSP, president of DSI Security Services.
“When done right, these training programs focus on communication strategies, conflict resolution techniques, and understanding non-verbal cues,” he adds. “By enhancing these skills, officers can achieve the goal of defusing incidents before they escalate and result in more serious conflict—and too often can end in death or serious injury.”
Inadequate training also poses legal complications. Sorrells says the initial question after an incident will be how was the officer trained to handle the situation?
“If the answer is lack of training or procedures in this area, liability will be a very real problem that will not have an easy solution,” Sorrells says. “That will equate to real financial consequences in the hands of a jury. It is very common in these situations to see a cause of action relating to inadequate training. The only sure way to defend this allegation is to show that the officer was fully informed of all the limits of physical restraints and force, and how to deal with situations in a way where they never get to an unmanageable stage.”
U.S. states are also entering this arena. Tennessee passed a new law that requires all security officers in the state that work in environments where alcohol is served to have specific training. The law was in response to a bar patron’s death at the hands of security officers, Sorrells explains.
One of the ways that RC Miles, CPP, global director of safety and security at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, ensures that security personnel are adequately trained on de-escalation techniques, policies, and procedures is by hiring them directly and “aggressively” focusing on this aspect of training.
“We have lower turnover, better performance, and better management,” Miles says.
The foundation operates in many high-crime areas and residential properties that call for de-escalation techniques to be used on an almost daily basis when staff are interacting with people who are frustrated. Miles says their training stresses using verbal de-escalation and keeping physical space between yourself and other people, including using barricades or evacuation measures to create that space.
If someone tries to attack a staff member, the staffer has the right to defend themselves, Miles says. Otherwise, the foundation follows a strict do-not-touch policy, and security personnel are not allowed to restrain other people. Instead, they are trained to get themselves and team members to safety and call police to take over the situation.
But Miles says attention needs to be paid to the challenge security has with dealing with disruptive and threatening people in common or retail environments and the change in police response.
“It used to be you would call and within 10 to 15 minutes, a police officer would be there. That was standard in urban areas,” he adds. “But in many of our urban areas, that is not the case now. Which means there is no response or a very slow response to what they consider non-urgent items.”
In Milwaukee, for instance, the average police response time to a 911 call in 2021 was 18 minutes and 21 seconds. High priority calls were responded to, on average, in 4 minutes and 44 seconds, according to local news station TMJ4 Milwaukee.
This change means that private industry is addressing more of these instances with the resources they have available to them. “And that means we have to take a look at how these guards are trained,” Miles says.
The Milwaukee incident is a “classic example of what happens when you don’t have things done properly,” Miles says. “Nobody should die when they’re being restrained. That should not happen.”