Michael Virgil, Royal Caribbean passenger dies one hour within being detained after assaulting crew and threatening others, with family claiming he was injected with unknown sedative.
A cruise passenger has died after being detained for threatening behavior onboard a Royal Caribbean vessel heading to Mexico.
Michael Virgil, 35, died within an hour of being detained for allegedly assaulting crew members and threatening other travellers during a drunken fit as the cruise ship set out on Friday from San Pedro to Ensenada.
Family members allege the passenger’s death as a result of security injecting Virgil with ‘some kind of sedative’, FOX 11 reported.
During the drunken outburst, Virgil assaulted two crew members along with allegedly threatening to kill others just one hour after the Navigator of the Seas has set sail from San Pedro.
Fellow travellers allege Virgil kicking one Royal Caribbean staffer in the face and punching the other.
‘The gentleman that was drunk said that he was going to kill us,’ fellow traveler Christifer Mikhail told the station. ‘He started chasing us down the hallway.’
Mikhail said he was running with the crew member who jumped into a towel closet and locked himself inside.
Virgil then repeatedly tried to kick open the door, a video of the altercation shot by Mikhail shows. He repeatedly kicks the door with steel-toed boots while spewing profanity before removing his shirt in a hallway of the ship, according to the clip.
Virgil is also alleged to have gone on a racial tirade, according to Cruise Radio.
‘I was kind of scared,’ Mikhail said. ‘I’m stuck in this hallway. He could’ve flicked me and thrown me like 30 feet because the guy he punched kinda flew a couple feet back.’
Several Royal Caribbean security team members were able to eventually detain an exhausted Virgil by using zip ties, handcuffs and either bear or pepper spray, according to the bystander and his video.
Within one hour Virgil was dead.
The man’s family said Royal Caribbean injected him with a sedative. It remained unclear what type of sedative may have been used.
The family said that the ‘shocking outburst’ was uncharacteristic of the dad, who was on the cruise with his 7-year-old autistic son and his fiancé.
‘He didn’t deserve to die over it,’ a relative said.
The cause of his death is pending an autopsy. The FBI is investigating the altercation and the death.
‘We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests,’ Royal Caribbean said in a statement to FOX 11. ‘We offered support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation.’
