--- title: Alonzo Smith’s Death in Custody Ruled a Homicide description: The death of a 27-year-old man who was found unconscious in handcuffs while being held in custody has been ruled a homicide. canonical: https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-14T18:01:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:58:58.994Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Death of Man Who Had Heart Attack in Custody Ruled a Homicide, D.C. Authorities Say og:description: His heart attack was complicated by cocaine in his system og:url: https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Death of Man Who Had Heart Attack in Custody Ruled a Homicide, D.C. Authorities Say twitter:description: His heart attack was complicated by cocaine in his system twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Death of Man Who Had Heart Attack in Custody Ruled a Homicide, D.C. Authorities Say  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 14, 2015 6:01 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 14, 2015 6:01 PM CUT The death of a 27-year-old man who was found unconscious in handcuffs while being held in custody has been ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office in Washington, D.C. said Monday. Alonzo Smith died of a heart attack in November after security guards at an apartment complex in the city put him in custody, Mikelle Devillier, a spokeswoman for medical examiner, told TIME. He was found unconscious when Metropolitan Police arrived at the Marbury Plaza Apartments and later died at a nearby hospital, authorities said. His sudden cardiac death was complicated by cocaine in his system and “compression” of his torso, Devillier said. City police officers had said they were responding to an “assault in progress” at the complex, where Smith was in custody of “special police officers.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/"},"headline":"Death of Man Who Had Heart Attack in Custody Ruled a Homicide, D.C. Authorities Say","datePublished":"2015-12-14T18:01:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:58:58.994Z","description":"His heart attack was complicated by cocaine in his system","url":"https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4147823/alonzo-smith-death-homicide-washington-dc/","name":"Death of Man Who Had Heart Attack in Custody Ruled a Homicide, D.C. Authorities Say"}}]}] ```