Police have identified a man who died while detained in a D.C. police station holding cell in Northwest D.C.
Marquez Parker, 44, was arrested at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday on armed kidnapping charges.
Officers conducting a check of prisoners in the Second District cell block at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday discovered Parker unconscious and not breathing, the department said in a statement.
“Officers immediately requested D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, administered Narcan, began CPR, and attempted to utilize an AED,” spokesperson Paris Lewbel told WTOP in an emailed statement.
The department said that D.C. Fire and EMS pronounced Parker dead on the scene. Parker’s cause of death isn’t yet known.
Lewbel said the department’s internal affairs bureau is conducting an investigation into Parker’s death per department policy.
Speaking during a news conference Monday, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee told reporters an autopsy had been completed and there were “no obvious signs of trauma to the body other than CPR that was performed on him.”
He said authorities are waiting for toxicology results to learn more.
“But right now, no use of police force and, again, no injuries that would suggest that he died from something as a result of his encounter with law enforcement at the scene of his arrest,” Contee said.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.
