Mother sought second protective order from Baltimore police officer husband, the same day her son was found dead

BALTIMORE — Just hours before her 15-year-old son was found dead inside her Curtis Bay home, his mother sought a second protective order in as many weeks from her Baltimore Police officer husband, new records show.

Officer Eric Banks Jr. is being held without bond, after officers sent to check on the well-being of his stepson Dasan Jones found the teen dead inside a hole in an upstairs loft. Banks told officers that the boy had left the home, and, after being detained, struggled with an officer for her weapon. Prosecutors say Banks expressed homicidal and suicidal thoughts when speaking with detectives.

It’s been previously reported that Banks’ wife had unsuccessfully sought a protective order from him in late June, asking Banks to stay away from her as well as their two children and Dasan.

But new documents show she again sought another protective order from Banks, on Tuesday, just before calling police to check on Dasan.

Anne Arundel police said Friday that the state medical examiner’s office has not yet completed an autopsy to determine Dasan’s cause and manner of death. Banks is being held on charges of assaulting an officer.

The July 6 protective order cites “emotional abuse,” and his wife alleges that Banks had taken Dasan’s phone and was sending text messages to her from it.

Banks’ wife wrote in the petition that she was staying at a hotel, and that she received messages from her son’s phone asking her to come over.

“I then receive a call from my niece stating that my son messaged her from Instagram say that Eric took his phone the night of the 4th and he didn’t know why, and I was receiving texts that weren’t from him,” she wrote.

She also said he hacked into her bank and Verizon accounts and changed her passwords.

“I am in fear for my life and well being because Eric Banks keeps trying to control, follow, and emotionally abuse myself and my sons,” she wrote.

Banks had taken action in court first, filing for a peace order against his wife in May. He claimed she was threatening to leave him and ruin his life. He said she called police on him alleging that he pushed her out of a moving vehicle, then refused to speak with officers who came to their home.

Banks withdrew the peace order petition two days later.

Tiffany Binford, a relative of Banks’ wife speaking on her behalf, told The Baltimore Sun that she believed Banks filed the order in effort to get ahead of her plans to take action against him.

“Him being a police officer, he had the upper hand,” Binford said.

Banks has been a Baltimore Police officer for about three years. Before that, he spent 11 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, reaching the rank of sergeant and serving three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He was working as a recruiter at the time of his departure.

Baltimore Police said Banks’ official police powers had been suspended before the Tuesday incident but did not say when or why they were revoked.

When Banks’ wife filed for the first protective order on June 25, she accused him of stalking her, and said that he had followed her on multiple occasions. She asked that he be ordered to undergo counseling.

A judge denied the temporary protective order petition June 28.

The second was filed Tuesday. A hearing was held at 2:58 p.m., according to online court records, and a judge entered a temporary protective order that called for Banks to stay away from his wife.

According to police, at about 4:56 p.m., Anne Arundel County Police met with Banks’ wife who said she was in the area to pick up Dasan. Banks told officers that the boy had left the home, leaving his belongings behind. Officers entered the home, and found his body.

Banks repeatedly asked if he could say goodbye to his two children. When he reached for an officer’s gun, he said, “You’re gonna have to end this.”