A Baltimore mother is demanding answers after she says armed law enforcement officers stopped her 20-year-old son at gunpoint in East Baltimore after mistaking him for another person with an arrest warrant.
Deneen Jordan said she and her son—who has not been identified by name—were heading home from a Save A Lot near Monument Street and Luzerne Avenue on Sept. 3 when officers approached in both marked and unmarked vehicles. According to Jordan, officers drew their weapons and ordered her son to the ground.
Jordan captured the confrontation on video and later posted the footage to social media, where it spread widely. Civil rights advocates, including attorney Ben Crump, have also shared the video.
‘You Have the Wrong Child!’
In the footage, Jordan can be heard urgently telling officers they had detained the wrong person.
“No, no, no, you have the wrong son. You have the wrong child. This is my child. He has never been in trouble,” she says.
An officer responds that the young man has an “open arrest warrant.”
Jordan immediately disputes that claim.
“He does not,” she says.
She continues trying to convince officers that they have the wrong person, telling them her son has no criminal history.
“My son has never done anything. He has no record at all. He just graduated high school last year, sir. Ya’ll have the wrong person,” Jordan says in the video.
‘Take Me!’
The encounter drew questions from people watching the arrest unfold. One bystander repeatedly questioned why officers had their rifles pointed at the young man and asked what he was being arrested for.
“Why are you pointing an assault rifle at that man?” the person asks.
Later, the same onlooker says, “This is a young boy. How y’all gonna jump out with assault rifles like you’d rather shoot him? That s—t crazy.”
Jordan’s distress escalates as officers continue detaining her son.
“Why do you have my baby in those handcuffs? I pay the price for that. Lock me up instead. Take me. Don’t take him. Take me,” she pleads.
The video also shows Jordan asking for officers’ badge numbers and saying she has her son’s identification.
“I have his ID. I need papers. I need everybody’s badge numbers. Ya’ll got the wrong person. Nobody read him his rights,” she says.
By the end of the recording, officers leave the scene with the young man. Jordan’s son is seen being escorted into the back of a police car before officers drive off with him. The footage does not ever show officers explaining the basis for the arrest or publicly establishing how they determined the young man was the person named in the warrant.
Police Response
Baltimore County police later acknowledged that officers had detained the wrong person.
According to a statement provided to Atlanta Black Star, detectives assigned to the Baltimore County Police Department’s Woodlawn Precinct were assisting U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents who were executing two warrants: a felony arrest warrant and a search-and-seizure warrant.
Police said the operation began Sept. 2 and that information provided by the Postal Service led officers to make an arrest in Baltimore City. Once authorities determined they had identified the wrong person, he was released.
“Once it was determined officers had misidentified the subject in custody, he was immediately released without charges,” the department said.
The department said it has opened an administrative review to determine whether officers followed department policy and Maryland law during the incident.
Jordan’s video has nevertheless raised questions about how the mistaken identity occurred and why such a large police response was used during the encounter.
‘That Was Heartbreaking’
Social media users weighed in on the situation.
“We as black ppl really need to educate ourselves on our “rights” because they actually don’t smh this was hard to watch,” one user wrote.
Another asked for commenters to give Jordan grace, “Y’all stop going after the mom for screaming in this day and age black people are being lynched. She is human…she is scared for her son’s life. anyone of us would be. The son did an excellent job and stayed calm. they were looking for one reason to start man handling him.”
“LOCK ME UP INSTEAD, TAKE ME. That was heart breaking. Y’all can’t tell a MOTHER how to feel when it comes to their child like come on now,” One wrote.
“I would’ve been the same way over my child. Especially when you know you raised a good child!”
For Jordan, the incident was not simply a misunderstanding. Her repeated pleas throughout the video reflect the fear of a mother watching her child being detained while officers point rifles in his direction.
Police have not publicly provided additional details about the person named in the warrant or explained what information initially led officers to believe Jordan’s son was the wanted individual.
