Two special police officers who detained a man at an apartment complex in Southeast D.C. this winter will face no charges after the 27-year-old died, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia determined there is insufficient evidence to pursue local charges or federal criminal civil rights charges against the two guards who held down Alonzo Smith.
"After this review, the U.S. Attorney’s Office concluded that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Special Police Officers violated Mr. Smith’s civil rights by using excessive force or that they possessed the requisite criminal intent at the time of the events," a statement from prosecutors issued Thursday said.
Evidence showed that Smith, who reportedly was a teacher for students with special needs, died of a cardiac incident while under the influence of "an exceedingly high amount of cocaine," prosecutors said. Being restrained may have contributed to the medical problem, officials concluded.
Two civil rights groups protested the determination outside the U.S. Attorney's Office on Thursday.
Smith died after he was detained by two guards at the Marbury Plaza apartments on the 2300 block of Good Hope Road SE. Then-Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in December that 911 dispatchers received at least four calls just before 4 a.m. Nov. 1 about a person yelling.
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Two D.C. police officers arrived moments later and found the guards had restrained Smith, who then fell unconscious, Lanier said. The officers called an EMS crew, and Smith was rushed to a hospital, where he died.
In an eight-minute-long video released in December, a guard can be heard telling the officers he believes Smith is on PCP. Smith lies on his back in a stairwell with no shirt or shoes. An officer steps outside and calls for help.
"Security already has him in handcuffs. Adult male conscious and breathing," the officer says. When he returns to the stairwell, a security guard appears to have his knee pressed against Smith's back.
Lanier said after a first police body-camera footage of the incident was released that neither officers nor security guards are trained to use their knees to hold down arrestees.
The officers perform CPR on Smith for more than five minutes, cursing and begging him to breathe. One of the officers can be heard on the 8-minute video asking that handcuffs be taken off Smith.
"When the [ambulance is] here, I don't want these f---ing handcuffs in their way," he says.
Smith was a Southeast D.C. resident and father of a 6-year-old boy, The Washington Post reported. He worked as a teacher at Accotink Academy Learning Center in Springfield, Virginia, which teaches students with special needs, the paper reported.
Smith's mother, Beverly Smith, previously said she believed security guards were unjustified in hurting him.
"Even if he did have cocaine in his system or any other drug in his system, it does not give them the right to beat my son to death," the late man's mother said.
