The final hours of Michael Virgil’s life began as a family holiday at sea and ended in a shipboard security room, where a 35 year old father was restrained, pepper sprayed and injected with a sedative before his death was ruled a homicide. Now his fiancée has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that accuses Royal Caribbean of overserving him at least 33 alcoholic drinks in a matter of hours and then using excessive force when he became violently intoxicated.
According to court documents filed in federal court in Miami, Virgil, from Riverside County in California, boarded Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas in Los Angeles on 13 December 2024 with his fiancée, Connie Aguilar, and their seven year old son, who has autism. The four day voyage was due to sail from the port of San Pedro to Ensenada in Mexico.
The lawsuit says that when the family boarded, their cabin was not yet ready and crew members directed them to a bar area with live music to wait. After some time, their son became restless, and Aguilar left the bar with the child to check whether the room was available, leaving Virgil alone at the bar. It is during this period, the filing claims, that crew members repeatedly served him alcohol under an all inclusive drinks package.
Virgil had purchased the company’s “Deluxe Beverage Package”, described in the complaint as an all inclusive offer that allowed him to order unlimited alcoholic drinks. In the hours that followed, according to the lawsuit, bar staff served him at least 33 alcoholic beverages while he remained in the bar area. His family and their lawyers say he was plainly intoxicated and that responsible service rules should have prevented further drinks being poured.
The court papers allege that the volume of alcohol was so great that it would have been impossible for crew not to notice his condition. The complaint describes what it calls “negligent overservice” of alcohol, arguing that staff continued to sell drinks while he exhibited obvious signs of intoxication. One of the family’s lawyers, Kevin Haynes, said, “It stands to reason that he was demonstrably and obviously intoxicated, and yet Royal Caribbean kept pouring the drinks.”
After leaving the bar to look for his fiancée and son, Virgil became disoriented as he tried to find his cabin, according to the legal filing. The lawsuit states that he got lost in the ship’s interior corridors, grew increasingly agitated and began shouting, frightening other passengers. At some point, he removed his shirt and, in an episode that was later captured on mobile phone video by other guests, started kicking at a cabin door, apparently believing someone was inside.
Footage that later circulated online shows Virgil barefoot and shirtless, leaning against a door in a passenger corridor and repeatedly kicking it as crew members attempt to speak to him. Other accounts cited in the lawsuit say he had already assaulted at least one crew member and threatened to kill both staff and passengers during his outburst, although those allegations have not been tested in court.
Cruise ship security was called to the scene and, according to the complaint, a group of officers tackled Virgil to the ground. The filing alleges that they used zip ties and handcuffs to restrain his arms and legs and that at least some of the guards placed their full body weight on him while he lay prone. It further claims that multiple cans of pepper spray were deployed at close range during the struggle.
The lawsuit also states that, on the captain’s instruction, medical staff administered an injection of the antipsychotic drug Haloperidol while Virgil was restrained. Lawyers for Aguilar argue that the combination of heavy intoxication, physical restraint, chemical irritant and sedative placed extreme stress on his breathing and cardiovascular system. They say that within a short time of being subdued he went into distress and was later pronounced dead on board.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner subsequently ruled the manner of death to be homicide. According to the autopsy findings cited in the lawsuit, Virgil died from mechanical asphyxia and the effects of alcohol intoxication, with obesity and an enlarged heart listed as contributing factors. The family’s legal team say the conclusion that he was killed by “body compression” while restrained reinforces their claim that crew actions, alongside the earlier overserving of alcohol, caused his death.
For Aguilar and other relatives, the picture presented to the public is at odds with the man they say they knew. Haynes said the family had described Virgil as a gentle, non confrontational person who rarely drank. “He was a loving father, they believed that he was a ‘gentle giant.’ So that’s what alcohol does to you. It transforms you into a different person, especially that much alcohol,” he said, adding that while they did not condone his behaviour in the corridor, “it doesn’t deserve a death sentence.”
Another statement attributed to the lawyer in coverage of the case emphasised the family’s view that the cruise line’s alcohol service created the conditions for the later confrontation. “It never should have gotten to the point where he was so intoxicated that he was wandering around the vessel looking for his family,” Haynes said. “In fact, his family has consistently said since day one, this is very out of character for him. They refer to him as the gentle giant in his household.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Florida where Royal Caribbean is headquartered, seeks unspecified damages and demands a jury trial. It alleges negligence, wrongful death and corporate policies that prioritised alcohol revenue over passenger safety. The complaint argues that crew members had a duty to cut off alcohol when it became clear Virgil was intoxicated and then to use proportionate, well supervised methods if they needed to intervene in his behaviour.
Beyond the bar staff and security officers involved in the incident, the filing places responsibility on the company’s management and training structures. Lawyers contend that the all inclusive drinks package encouraged high consumption and that staff were not properly trained or incentivised to refuse service. They also argue that security and medical personnel lacked adequate guidance on safe restraint techniques and the use of sedatives on highly intoxicated passengers.
Outside lawyers who have reviewed the case say the volume of alcohol alleged will be a central issue. Trial attorney Jeremy Rosenthal, quoted after examining the complaint, said, “Somewhere between drink number seventeen and thirty-three, probably somebody with the cruise line should have recognized that it was a little much. That doesn’t make the lawsuit necessarily a slam dunk, but there are some bad facts here for the cruise line.”
Rosenthal and other legal observers note that the cruise line is likely to argue that Virgil chose to drink and that his violent behaviour, including threats and alleged assaults, forced security to act. The company has not yet filed a detailed defence in court, but the broad outlines of its position can be seen in public statements that place emphasis on personal responsibility and on cooperation with investigators after the incident.
In its only substantive public comment so far on the lawsuit, Royal Caribbean has expressed sympathy but declined to engage with the specific allegations. A company spokesperson said, “We 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.” The cruise operator has not publicly addressed the detailed claims about drink numbers, restraint methods or the use of Haloperidol.
For Virgil’s family, the case is about both accountability and the broader question of how alcohol is marketed and controlled on large cruise ships. Their lawyers have suggested that a successful verdict or settlement could push operators to reconsider unlimited drink offers, strengthen training on responsible service and adopt tighter rules on physical restraint. They argue that the combination of powerful cocktails, enclosed spaces and high passenger numbers requires a particularly cautious approach.
The case also highlights the complexities of investigating deaths in international waters. Although the ship was sailing from a US port to Mexico and is operated by a US based company, it flies a foreign flag and spends much of its time outside any single national jurisdiction. In Virgil’s case, the involvement of the FBI and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, together with litigation in a federal court in Florida, underscores how several authorities can be drawn into a single shipboard incident.
As the lawsuit progresses, more detail is likely to emerge about the exact movements of bar staff, security officers and medical personnel on the day of Virgil’s death, and about the company’s internal policies. For now, Aguilar and her son are left with a sharply different reality from the holiday they had planned. Instead of a short cruise to Mexico, they returned home without a father and partner, while his body, according to accounts cited in the complaint, remained in cold storage on the ship until it returned to port.
The legal action does not seek to deny that Virgil’s behaviour in his final hours was frightening for others on board. His fiancée’s lawyers have repeatedly accepted that his actions were out of character and disturbing. Their central claim is that a man who arrived on the ship as what they describe as a gentle giant should never have been allowed to reach a point of such extreme intoxication and that the response, once he did, should not have ended with a homicide ruling from a medical examiner. That argument, together with the figure of 33 drinks in a single day, will now be tested in a courtroom.
