A Baltimore police officer is under arrest after his teenage stepson was found dead in his Anne Arundel County, Maryland, home on Tuesday.
Eric Glen Banks Jr., 34, was arrested after he “became combative and tried to disarm” an officer, Anne Arundel County police said in a statement Wednesday. He’s been charged with first- and second-degree assault and other charges. He has not been charged in the teenager’s death.
Anne Arundel County police said the teenager’s mother contacted them on Tuesday at around 5 p.m. about a custody dispute as she was in the area to pick her son up from Banks’ house.
When officers arrived at Banks’ residence, on Stoney Point Way in Curtis Bay, to check on the 15-year-old, police said that Banks told them the teenage boy had left the residence without his belongings.
But the responding officers said they found the boy unresponsive in an upstairs room. They provided first aid until the fire department arrived, but the boy died.
Baltimore Police Department spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge said Banks’ police powers “were previously suspended and remain suspended while this current case is investigated by the Anne Arundel County Police Department,” according to The Baltimore Sun.
Several search warrants were executed, “multiple items of evidence were collected” and several witnesses were located and interviewed, according to police.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy on the teen to determine the exact cause and manner of death.
Anne Arundel County Police are asking anyone with information to contact the county’s Homicide Unit at 410-222-4731.
Anyone with information wishing to remain anonymous can contact the Anne Arundel County Police Tip Line 410-222-4700 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP, download the P3Tips app and submit your tip, or submit by web at metrocrimestoppers.org.
