Alonzo Smith

Alonzo Smith, 27, died on November 1, 2015 after being restrained and handcuffed by two privately employed "special police officers" at Marbury Plaza apartments in Southeast Washington, D.C. Neighbors reported hearing Smith, who was shirtless and barefoot, running and screaming that someone was trying to kill him before the special officers caught him, put him in a bear hug, and held him face-down on the ground. When Metropolitan Police arrived, Smith was found handcuffed, unconscious, and not breathing; he died at a hospital soon after. The D.C. medical examiner classified his death a homicide. Nearly a year later, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced there was insufficient evidence to charge either special officer, attributing Smith's death to a cocaine-related cardiac event that restraint may have contributed to, rather than to excessive force. No one has ever been charged in Smith's death, and the special officers involved have never been publicly identified.

Washington, DC

• 2015: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The restraint, the discovery of Smith handcuffed and not breathing, and his death, per the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office's public findings.
• The two men who restrained Smith were "special police officers" — privately employed, armed security personnel licensed by the District with limited arrest powers, distinct from sworn Metropolitan Police officers.
• The D.C. Chief Medical Examiner classified Smith's manner of death as homicide, while also finding cocaine intoxication and cardiac arrest were contributing factors.
• The U.S. Attorney's Office announced in October 2016, after a review including body camera footage, autopsy and toxicology reports, and interviews with more than two dozen witnesses, that there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers used excessive force or possessed criminal intent.
• An initial police report characterized the incident as a "justifiable homicide" before D.C. police said that classification was an error and changed it to a standard death investigation.
• The identities of the two special police officers involved have never been publicly released, and the private security company that employed them has not been named in most public reporting.

• Whether the level of force used to restrain Smith — including what witnesses described as an officer's knee on his back — independently caused or substantially contributed to his death, versus the cocaine intoxication prosecutors emphasized, was never resolved by any criminal proceeding.
• Why the two special police officers involved have never been publicly named, even after the U.S. Attorney's Office concluded its investigation, has not been explained in available public reporting.
• The full body camera footage capturing the incident was only partially released to the public, limiting independent review of the restraint itself.

• U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. — official statement on the Alonzo Smith investigation
• FOX 5 DC — “Security guards will not be charged in death of Alonzo Smith”
• The Washington Post — “Family demands to know why D.C. man was in custody of 'special police,' and how he died”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs