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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria's Independent Policing Auditor has found that police officers violated department policy in the August 2025 in-custody death of Allan F. Tucker II, concluding that the arresting officer continued transporting Tucker to the city jail after he repeatedly asked to be taken to a hospital, where he died following a prolonged wait for intake.
The auditor's final report, released June 22, sustains policy violations against three of the four officers involved. Its central finding is that the primary officer failed to follow directives requiring that an arrestee who asks for medical treatment be taken to a hospital — an obligation the report says does not depend on whether the officer believes the request is genuine. The report does not assess criminal liability or the cause of death; a medical examiner ruled Tucker's death accidental, and prosecutors declined to charge the officers earlier this year. The auditor's review is administrative, examining only whether officers complied with Alexandria Police Department policy.
The Alexandria Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the auditor's findings. This story will be updated with any response.
The findings set up two near-term venues where the case returns to public view. The auditor, Ameratu Kamara, is scheduled to brief the City Council at its legislative meeting Tuesday, June 23 — the night after the report's release — and the city's civilian Independent Community Policing Review Board will hold a public hearing on the report June 29.
What the auditor found
The report, signed by Independent Policing Auditor Ameratu Kamara, sustained findings against the three responding officers and cleared the supervising sergeant, while referring the sergeant's actions to the review board for further consideration.
The most serious findings fall on the arresting and transporting officer, identified in the report as Officer 1. The auditor sustained three sets of violations against that officer: failing to meet performance standards in monitoring an arrestee in custody; improperly muting a body-worn camera during an active incident without justification; and failing to provide medical care. On the medical-care finding, the report states that as the patrol vehicle passed a hospital during transport, Tucker repeatedly asked to be taken there, and the officer acknowledged the requests but continued to the detention center. The report notes the officer interpreted Tucker's statements as part of his altered mental state, but says department directives do not condition the duty to seek care on an officer's assessment of the request's credibility or cause, requiring instead that arrestees who request medical treatment be transported to a hospital for evaluation before booking.
The auditor also sustained body-worn-camera violations against the two other responding officers for muting their cameras without justification while Tucker remained in custody, and sustained an additional professional-conduct violation against one of them for directing a profane remark at Sheriff's Office personnel in the sallyport. The supervising sergeant, a 24-year veteran, was found not to have violated policy, but the report recommends the review board examine whether his response met supervisory expectations.
What happened the night Tucker died
According to the report's narrative, drawn from body-worn camera footage, dispatch recordings, and officer interviews, police were called to an apartment building in the 2800 block of North Beauregard Street around 5:07 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2025, after 911 callers reported a man running through hallways, screaming and banging on doors. Officers found Tucker visibly distressed — sweating, wide-eyed, speaking rapidly — and insisting someone with a gun was inside his apartment. Officers searched the residence twice, with his consent and his father present, and found no one. Tucker continued to point at empty spaces and say he saw a man with a gun.
After Tucker refused to go back inside, an officer told him he would be arrested for public intoxication. He did not resist. During transport, the report says, Tucker grew increasingly agitated and, as the vehicle passed Inova Alexandria Hospital around 6:04 p.m., repeatedly asked to be taken to the hospital. The officer continued to the Adult Detention Center.
There, officers were told intake would be delayed because of a Sheriff's Office shift change, with no estimated wait time. Tucker remained in the back of the patrol car, in APD custody, for roughly 40 to 45 minutes. According to the report, his screams gradually quieted as officers waited, growing visibly frustrated at the delay; at one point they observed deputies processing another person for release while Tucker still waited. Around 6:51 p.m., an officer checking on him found him unresponsive. Officers administered Narcan and began CPR; Fire and EMS took over but could not revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Because intake never occurred, custody was never transferred to the Sheriff's Office, leaving Tucker in police custody when he died.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be substance intoxication and the manner accidental. In January, the Commonwealth's Attorney declined to charge the officers, citing the medical examiner's accidental ruling and a finding by the multi-jurisdictional Critical Incident Response Team of no causal connection between any officer's actions and Tucker's death; the CIRT investigation also found officers did not use or attempt to use force likely to cause death or serious injury. The Commonwealth's Attorney's office said it would have no further comment given the potential for civil litigation.
At the time of his death, Police Chief Tarrick McGuire said officers had attempted to de-escalate the situation before arresting Tucker, who was unarmed, and that officers rendered aid and called for medical personnel when he suffered the medical emergency. "Any loss of life is tragic, and as police chief, I recognize the deep grief experienced by those affected," McGuire said in a January statement.
A jurisdictional gap the auditor couldn't cross
A recurring theme of the report is what the auditor could not investigate. The Office of the Independent Policing Auditor has authority only over the Alexandria Police Department, not the Alexandria Sheriff's Office, which runs the detention center where the delay occurred. The report notes the sallyport wait, the shift change, and the intake procedures fell outside its reach, and recommends the city refer detention-center operations on the night of the incident to an independent agency for review.
More broadly, the auditor recommends the city explore expanding civilian oversight to cover the Sheriff's Office and detention center — noting a national trend toward independent oversight of jails, and citing community complaints submitted through the city's 311 system supporting such expansion. If that is not feasible, the report suggests the city pursue a memorandum of understanding with the Sheriff's Office or partnerships with state agencies.
Recommendations for the police department and the city
Beyond the individual findings, the report makes a series of systemic recommendations: agency-wide refresher training on body-worn-camera policy; a comprehensive review of the directives governing prisoner transport and medical care, with clearer thresholds for when officers should seek medical help for someone in distress; and the addition of dashboard cameras to patrol vehicles, which the report notes were absent, leaving gaps in the record of Tucker's time in the cruiser.
The report also points to a gap in options for people experiencing intoxication, noting the city closed its detoxification center in 2020 and now relies on a partnership with Arlington County. It recommends the police review transport policy to include that option and suggests the City Council and city manager consider re-establishing a detox or diversion facility in Alexandria within five years. Additional recommendations call for pre-booking medical screening involving Fire/EMS, a formal interagency coordination workgroup, and revisions to the memorandum of understanding governing the oversight system itself — which the report describes as being tested in practice for one of the first times in this case.
What the review board can do
The June 29 hearing, scheduled from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center, gives the civilian review board its role. Board Chair Deborah Porter will deliver opening remarks, followed by the auditor's presentation, public comment, and board discussion. The hearing is for public comment only, with no live question-and-answer period; each speaker has three minutes.
Under city ordinance, the board may concur with all or some of the auditor's findings; advise that the findings are not supported by the available information and recommend further review; advise that the investigation is incomplete and recommend additional investigation; or recommend referring the matter to the Commonwealth's Attorney. Final authority over any corrective action, including discipline, rests with Police Chief Tarrick McGuire, who must put any decision to reject the auditor's or board's recommendations in writing to the City Council, city manager, auditor, and public within 30 days.
The three responding officers were placed on administrative leave after the death; two were reinstated to full duty in February after APD's internal investigation concluded.
Background
The City Council established the Office of the Independent Policing Auditor and the Independent Community Policing Review Board in April 2021, following a June 2020 resolution condemning police brutality and systemic racism. The report describes the Tucker case as one of the first instances in which the system's governing memorandum of understanding has been fully implemented in practice.
How to participate
Residents may attend the June 29 hearing in person or virtually; advance registration is required for virtual attendance and public comment. Written comments may be submitted to policeoversight@alexandriava.gov with the subject line "Public Comment – In-Custody Death." The auditor's full report is posted on the city's AIPA documents and reports page.
This story may be updated.
Ryan Belmore
Ryan Belmore
