Curtis Jamal Deal, 10

Baltimore, Maryland
February 07, 2017

Agencies: Baltimore Police Department Maryland

Cause of death: Shooting


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

Baltimore Police on Thursday identified the 18-year-old man who was fatally shot by a detective during a foot pursuit Tuesday as Curtis Jamal Deal, of Pigtown.

They also released footage from the detective's body camera that showed Deal raising a handgun in the direction of the officer prior to the shooting.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said at an afternoon news conference that the shooting was justified, and praised the detective — Det. David Kincaid Jr., a five-year veteran of the force with no previous shootings — for doing what the department and the city expect of its officers.

"I expect police officers to chase people who bail out of cars with guns, that's an expectation that I have of police officers," Davis said. "And beyond my expectation, I think it's the community's expectation."

Davis said that, given the threat Deal posed to Kincaid, "we could very well be planning a police funeral right now, and thank God that we're not."

Deal's family and attorney declined comment Thursday.

The shooting happened around 3 p.m. Tuesday on Frederick Avenue just west of South Monroe Street. Two plainclothes officers doing focused enforcement began tailing a car that was driving erratically, police said. Deal allegedly jumped out of the car while it was still in motion and ran until he came face to face with Kincaid, police said.

The body camera footage that police released showed Kincaid come upon Deal on Frederick Avenue. Deal can be seen holding a gun as he passes by. Kincaid turns and raises his own weapon. As both men ran around a small white bus, Deal appeared to raise his gun, and Kincaid fired.

Kincaid had activated his camera too late for there to be sound of the shooting, police said. However, it captured video because of a feature that saves 30 seconds of footage at a time on a running basis and saves that information for the previous 30 seconds whenever a camera is activated. The sound was activated just after the shooting occurred.

Davis called Deal a "menace to society" on Thursday. He said Deal was a "person of interest" in a December 2016 homicide, and noted Deal had been arrested three times in the last month on gun or drug charges.

Davis questioned why Deal had been released on a $250,000 unsecured bond the day before the shooting, after his third arrest in a month. He took aim squarely at the judge who had granted Deal's release.

"Why wouldn't you hold him on no bail and protect the community?" Davis asked.

Prosecutors in the office of State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby had requested that Deal be held without bail at a bail review hearing on Monday, on gun and drug charges stemming from a Feb. 2 arrest.

District Judge Nicole Taylor granted him bail, with additional conditions, including a 1 p.m. curfew and a requirement that he attend classes at Digital Harbor High School.