Video<\/a> from aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship showed Michael Virgil at times screaming, kicking at a door, shirtless and then being restrained on the ground.<\/p>\nAccording to a lawsuit filed against the cruise line in Florida last week, crew members had served Virgil at least 33 drinks before he died on an all-inclusive, four-day journey from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was supposed to be a beautiful family vacation came to an unimaginably tragic end due to the reprehensible way the situation \u2014 that should have never occurred \u2014 was handled,\u201d said Kevin Haynes, who is representing the family in the suit, in a statement. <\/p>\n
In an email, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean declined to comment on the lawsuit. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were saddened by the passing of one of our guests, worked with authorities on their investigation, and will refrain from commenting any further on pending litigation,\u201d the statement from Royal Caribbean Group read. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit says that Virgil, who was from Riverside, boarded the ship on Dec. 13, 2024, with his longtime fianc\u00e9e, Connie Aguilar, and their 7-year-old son, but they were told to wait in a bar area with live music because their cabin was not ready. <\/p>\n
Virgil\u2019s son and Aguilar left at one point to check on their cabin, but the suit alleges Virgil was served at least 33 alcoholic drinks shortly after boarding the ship.<\/p>\n
Virgil had purchased Royal Caribbean\u2019s \u201cDeluxe Beverage Package,\u201d according to the suit, which gives passengers all-inclusive drinks.<\/p>\n
The suit alleges that before the violent confrontation with crew members, Virgil had shown signs of intoxication to the ship\u2019s staff, who continued to serve him dozens of drinks.<\/p>\n
\u201cROYAL CARIBBEAN crew members negligently served alcoholic beverages to [Virgil] in excess, causing his judgment and faculties to become substantially impaired,\u201d the suit states. <\/p>\n
While intoxicated, the suit alleges, Virgil became frustrated when he got lost and was unable to locate his family\u2019s room. <\/p>\n
Ship staff and security \u201ctackled him to the ground and stood over his body with their full weight,\u201d according to a statement released by Haynes. <\/p>\n
The crew was \u201capplying compressive force to [Virgil\u2019s] body, causing [Virgil] to stop moving,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Staff also used several cans of pepper spray and injected him with a sedative, Haloperidol, according to the suit. <\/p>\n
The physical restraint, the use of pepper spray, and the sedative used to restrain Virgil, and the dozens of alcoholic drinks affected breathing and cardiovascular instability, the suit alleges, led to his death.<\/p>\n
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner\u2019s office, Virgil\u2019s death was determined to be caused by the combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, obesity, cardiomegaly, and ethanol intoxication. <\/p>\n
The medical examiner\u2019s office also determined his death was a homicide. <\/p>\n
\u201cMichael\u2019s family has suffered unimaginable heartache and torment caused by Royal Caribbean, a mega cruise line that prioritizes profit over passenger safety,\u201d Haynes said in the statement. <\/p>\n
After Virgil\u2019s death, according to the suit, the ship continued on the cruise toward Ensenada, Mexico, and kept Virgil\u2019s body refrigerated until it returned to Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2024.<\/p>\n
Virgil\u2019s family is seeking damages, including loss of support, inheritance, and medical and funeral expenses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A passenger who died on a Royal Caribbean cruise was doused with pepper spray and physically restrained by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,147055,8609,5268,3006,170805,170804,2932,4281,27096,83420,162600,135122,16329,55398,170803],"class_list":["post-339804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-crew-member","tag-death","tag-drink","tag-family","tag-intoxication","tag-kevin-haynes","tag-lawsuit","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-pepper","tag-royal-caribbean-cruise","tag-ship","tag-staff-member","tag-statement","tag-suit","tag-virgil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}