Crew members on a Royal Caribbean cruise line negligently served a Moreno Valley man 33 alcoholic drinks within a span of several hours at the start of a December 2024 voyage — and when he turned violent, security guards unleashed three cans of pepper spray, zip-tied him and held him down with so much force that he stopped breathing and died, the man’s fiancée alleges in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
The federal lawsuit, filed Friday, Dec. 5, in U.S. District Court, seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages in the death of 35-year-old Michael Virgil.
“(Virgil’s) incident and death was directly caused by his intoxicated state and by Royal Caribbean’s crew members’ over-serving alcohol when they knew or should have known that (Virgil) was in an intoxicated state,” the lawsuit says.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report says Virgil, who was 5-foot-9 and 359 pounds, died from the combined effects of asphyxiation caused by the guards’ restraints, alcohol intoxication, obesity and an enlarged heart. Virgil did not have any illegal or prescription drugs in his system, the report says.
Deputy Medical Examiner Kevin Young ruled that the manner of death was homicide — death at the hand of another — the report says. The FBI concluded that no crime occurred, bureau spokeswoman Laura Eimiller wrote in an email.
A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Cruises did not respond to two emailed requests for comment. In a statement shortly after Virgil died on Dec. 13, 2024, the company said, “We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests. We offered support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation.”
Virgil, his fiancée, Connie Aguilar, and her family boarded the Navigator of the Seas for a four-day trip from San Pedro to Ensenada around 11 a.m. on Dec. 13. His room wasn’t ready, so ship staff directed Virgil to a bar, according to Aguilar’s attorney, Kevin Haynes. The coroner’s report said Virgil purchased the ship’s alcoholic drink package, which, according to the cruise line’s website, provides passengers with unlimited beverages, one at a time.
Shortly after the ship sailed at 4 p.m., Haynes said in a written statement, Virgil became agitated because his intoxication made it difficult to find his room.
The coroner’s report, citing an FBI investigator, described Virgil as “belligerent” and said he “was making violent threats to staff and guests. He apparently began banging and kicking doors, and began to remove ceiling panels from the ship, and brandishing them as weapons.”
About 6:10 p.m., guards arrived and zip-tied Virgil’s feet and handcuffed his wrists, the report said. Guards deployed pepper spray, and a doctor injected him with a sedative. He was in a prone position with the guards on top of him for three minutes. The compression of his body impaired his breathing, and he stopped moving two minutes after he was restrained.
The lawsuit says guards tackled Virgil and stood on him with their full body weight.
“With his body compressed and restrained, Virgil stopped moving,” Haynes said.
Virgil was pronounced dead at 8:32 p.m.
The autopsy report listed several factors that put Virgil at risk of death from the physical confrontation with guards.
His body mass index was 49.3, which made him “severely obese,” the report said. That condition requires more oxygen and makes a person more prone to collapse during stress, the report said. His heart weighed 560 grams, well above the normal range for men of 230 to 383. That made Virgil more likely to suffer sudden heart failure during a struggle, the report said.
And Virgil’s blood-alcohol content, measured three days after his death, was 0.182, more than twice the legal limit for driving and at a level that could have made it more difficult for Virgil to breathe, the report said.
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