A Royal Caribbean passenger has died after being detained for allegedly assaulting crew members and threatening other passengers while intoxicated, according to a report.
Michael Virgil, 35, died on Friday on a plane bound for Ensenada after his family claimed security personnel injected him with some type of sedative. Fox 11 reported,
According to a Los Angeles news station, Virgil allegedly threatened to kill others and attacked two crew members, which began less than an hour after Navigator of the Seas departed from San Pedro.
He allegedly kicked one Royal Caribbean employee in the face and punched another.
“The drunk gentleman said he was going to kill us,” fellow passenger Christopher Mikhail told the station. “He started following us down the corridor.”
Mikhail said he was racing with a crew member who jumped into a towel closet and locked himself inside.
Virgil then tried to open the door by repeatedly kicking it, as video of the altercation shot by Mikhail shows. According to the clip, he repeatedly kicks a door with steel-toed boots while using profanity before taking off his shirt in the ship’s corridor.
According to Fox 11, he also allegedly made racial comments.
“I was a little scared,” Mikhail said. “I’m stuck in this corridor. He could have punched me and thrown me 30 feet because the man he punched went flying a few feet back.
According to the viewer and his video, several members of the Royal Caribbean security team were eventually able to detain the exhausted Virgil using zip ties, handcuffs, and bear or pepper spray.
The unruly passenger died within an hour, the station reported, with his family saying he was injected with a sedative.
Virgil’s devastated family told Fox 11 that his shocking outburst was uncharacteristic of his father, who was on the cruise with his 7-year-old autistic son and his fiancée.
“He didn’t deserve to die for this,” a relative told the station.
The post-mortem on the cause of his death is yet to be conducted. The FBI is investigating the altercation and death.
“We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement to Fox 11. “We offered our support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation.”
The cruise line did not immediately return a message sent by The Post.
(TagstoTranslate)US news(T)cruises(T)deaths(T)Royal Caribbean(T)unruly passengers
