New court documents show 15-year-old Dasan Jones, the stepson of a Baltimore City police officer, was found dead inside of a wall.
Reports said his stepfather, 34-year-old Eric Banks Jr. consented to a search of the house, after police were called there for a custody dispute involving the teen’s mother.
When officers reached the loft on the top floor, they said they saw a hole in the wall with a white cover leaning on it.
Banks allegedly told officers it was a gun safe but when they checked, they found the body of the 15-year-old and immediately put Banks in handcuffs.
Neighbors said it’s sad. “I heard the mom crying and that cry, I heard instinctually I knew something happened to her kid,” said one neighbor.
Court documents said Banks pleaded to kiss his kids after being handcuffed. He then tried to grab an officer’s gun and told him they would “have to end this.”
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Anne Arundel County police gave WJZ this updated timeline: They arrived on the scene for the custody dispute at 4:42 pm Tuesday at the mother’s request. She was there to pick up her son. The child was found unresponsive upstairs in the townhome at 5:40 pm. Banks fought with the officer at 6:12 pm.
Anne Arundel County Police confirmed there had been prior calls for service to the home but did not detail them.
They are calling the teen’s death “suspicious” but would not say how he died or if there was any foul play.
“There appeared to be some things going on with the couple and there needed to be some space between them,” Sgt. Cooke said.
An autopsy will determine the cause of the teen’s death.
Police said Officer Banks initially told them his stepson left the home without any belongings.
Banks, who has been on the Baltimore police force for three years, has now been suspended without pay. Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Banks’ police powers had already been suspended over a prior incident.
“I’m not privileged to comment about what the previous incident was about,” Commissioner Harrison said.
A GoFundMe was opened for Dasan’s mother.
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