A man who went berserk on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship last December and then died after crew restrained him had been served “at least 33 alcoholic beverages” beforehand, his fiancée claims in a new lawsuit.
Michael Virgil, 35, smashed doors and assaulted crew members who tried to hold him back on Dec. 13, 2024, before security agents, medical personnel and crew subdued him with pepper spray, zip ties and handcuffs, the lawsuit alleges. They also say Virgil was injected with a sedative before he was taken to a holding cell.
Virgil died an hour later due to “the excessive force and fatal actions taken by crew members, fiancée Connie Aguilar claimed in a lawsuit filed Friday in Florida Southern District Court and reviewed by TMZ. This led to “significant hypoxia and impaired ventilation, respiratory failure, cardiovascular instability and ultimately cardiopulmonary arrest leading to his death, which has been ruled a homicide.”
Aguilar, Virgil and their 7-year-old son had boarded the Navigator of the Seas outside Los Angeles that day for a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, the lawsuit states. Their stateroom wasn’t ready yet, so staff suggested they wait at one of the bars.
Their son soon grew impatient, so Aguilar took him to get more information on their room. Virgil stayed at the bar, pounding down dozens of drinks. He then went off in search of the room himself and melted down when he couldn’t find it. In a drunken rage, he allegedly ran up and down the halls spewing profanity and racial slurs. A fellow passenger filmed him trying to break down a door, and at one point he ripped off his shirt. He also attacked a few crew members.
The FBI investigated after Virgil’s death, USA Today reported at the time, and Royal Caribbean said it was cooperating with authorities. The cruise line did not comment on the lawsuit.
“We are saddened by the passing of one of our guests,” a spokesperson for the cruise line’s parent company, Royal Caribbean Group, told USA TODAY last year. “We offered support to the family and are working with authorities on their investigation.”
