Ezekiel Banks

## Biography

### Early Life

Ezekiel Banks was born to Police Chief Marcus Banks, whose involvement in a conspiracy cover-up has ramifications that affect Ezekiel as an adult. He would then join the South Metropolitan Police Department as police officer and, later, a homicide detective.

### Witnessing Corruption

The police learned that civilian Charlie Emmerson had witnessed an officer push someone off a roof, and sought the man out under the guise of investigating the crime. Zeke along with his partner Peter Dunleavy visited Charlie at his home. They questioned him about what he witnessed; it became clear that the man was willing to testify. Dunleavy took action and murdered Charlie by shooting him, in order to get away with murder, Dunleavy placed a gun next to Charlie's corpse. Zeke asked Dunleavy what happened to which Pete claimed the witness pulled a gun on him. Zeke saw a child hiding in the cabinet and asked him to be silent to avoid Pete's attention. He raised his finger to his lips to shush the boy.

Shocked by the act Ezekiel exposed Dunleavy's crime to the public and took action by filing a complaint against him, the corruption within the police force was exposed which worried Marcus not only because Zeke would lose the people's trust but also his son would now be labeled as a snitch. The complaint opened up an IA investigation that found Dunleavy guilty. He was stripped of his badge and forced to become a civilian. This resulted in Zeke having been ostracized by the police force, as they labeled him a snitch who turned his back on his "brothers in blue". Officially, he was rewarded with a medal.

### Becoming an Outcast

After exposing Pete's crime resulting in Dunleavy losing his badge, most of Zeke's colleagues turned on him labeling him as a snitch. Ezekiel had a few colleagues that didn't turn against him, one of which being Marv Bozwick was very close friends with Zeke. Ezekiel used to go to games with Boz who even played with the latter's son. Another colleague that still respected Zeke was Deborah Kraus another homicide detective.

### Backup Call

One day Ezekiel Banks had to deal with, a criminal Zeke requested backup, but Detective Fitch and Detective Drury refused to help him due to his snitch status, resulting in Zeke getting shot, the Paramedic arrives to help Zeke and Police Chief Marcus Banks arrives to find out who refused to help his son, He later found out it was Fitch and beat him for it. Sometime later police chief Marcus Banks then retired, and Ezekiel Banks became a homicide detective.

### Undercover Operation

With his fellow officers against him, Zeke became hardened and distanced himself greatly. He refused to work with any new partners and instead investigated murders. He worked an unauthorized drug bust that quickly went south, which led to him being reprimanded by the new police chief and family friend Angie Garza. Garza was angered that he went undercover without any backup, though Banks was sure he couldn't trust anyone. Garza refused to believe that and instead gave him a new partner, an idealistic rookie, though Banks tried to argue against the assignment. He didn't want to babysit someone, though Garza didn't give him a choice. She assigned him, and his new partner, to the homicide division once again.

## Personality

Ezekiel Banks is a humorous man who teases William during their partnership, although he takes the murders seriously. Banks is also shown to be a man of principles. Truly believing in justice and hates corruption, he works arduously, never taking shortcuts or sacrificing others to obtain said justice. He is also extremely intelligent, as he finds connections to himself and the new victims. He often finds leads others don't and sees things differently than most detectives. Instead of taking the obvious escape route of sawing off his arm, Banks looked for another solution and succeeded in freeing himself without the loss of a limb. Despite his open disdain of corrupt cops, he still saves them to the best of his ability, solely because he believes it is the right thing to do.