Baltimore police officer charged in killing of stepson ordered held without bail

The Baltimore police officer charged with murdering his stepson will remain behind bars.

Eric Banks Jr., who was charged Wednesday with first- and second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse, was denied bail on Thursday.

Police found his 15-year-old stepson, Dasan Jones, dead inside Banks’ Anne Arundel County home last week when they went to check on his welfare after his mother called them, concerned that Banks wasn’t letting him leave the house.

Banks was arrested and charged at the time with first- and second-degree assault after he “became combative and tried to disarm” an officer, the county police said.

Medical examiners ruled the cause of the death as asphyxiation.

Banks is suspended without pay.

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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