Body of Royal Caribbean cruise passenger Michael Virgil was stuffed in fridge after being served 33 drinks, lawyer says

Royal Caribbean cruise staff allegedly stuffed a passenger’s body in a refrigerator and continued the journey after the man died following a marathon drinking session, the family’s attorney said.

Michael Virgil, a 35-year-old father from California, was served 33 drinks at one of the ship’s bars on the day he died in December 2024, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his fiancée.

Virgil, who was detained by cruise ship security during a drunken rage and died in custody, had a blood alcohol level of 0.182 to 0.186 percent — or roughly double legal driving limit,  according to an autopsy report obtained by the Daily Mail.

His fiancee, Connie Aguilar, has alleged they injected him with a sedative after the rampage which killed him.

Aguilar, who was traveling with Virgil and their 7-year-old autistic son, then pleaded with officials to return to port in Long Beach after the traumatizing ordeal — but the cruise line refused, her lawyer said.

“They would not do it,” attorney Kevin Haynes told the Mail.

“They put Michael in a refrigerator and continued the cruise for multiple days.”

Virgil became belligerent after crew members allegedly served him nearly three dozen drinks on the ship’s unlimited alcoholic beverages package, the wrongful death suit claims. It’s not clear how many of those drinks he actually consumed.

He then erupted into a rage when he left the bar extremely intoxicated and couldn’t find his room, allegedly attacking and threatening to kill crew members and passengers.

Crew members tackled Virgil, stood on his body with their full weight, administered an injection of the sedative Haloperidol, and sprayed Virgil with multiple cans of pepper spray, according to the lawsuit.

The autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office says that he was held down for three minutes before he was cuffed and taken to the ship’s medical center still breathing.

Officials noted that Virgil’s blood alcohol level was “not lethal on its own,” but said alcohol can depress respiration, impair coordination and “diminish the individual’s ability to respond to distress during restraint.”

Virgil died of “significant hypoxia and impaired ventilation, respiratory failure, cardiovascular instability and ultimately cardiopulmonary arrest, leading to his death which has been ruled a homicide,” the lawsuit alleges.

“The first domino that fell in terms of causing his death was mechanical asphyxiation, and that is where approximately five, maybe more, Royal Caribbean employees were trying to restrain him by putting their full body weight on him,” Haynes told the Mail. “And they did that for three minutes.”

Haynes compared the dad’s death to the death of George Floyd.

“Everyone remembers that very tragic story with George Floyd, and this is similar in the sense that they suppressed someone against their will, restrained him and caused him to stop being able to breathe,” he said.