Exclusive: The Guardian has established the whereabouts of Joseph Kent, whose disappearance into a phalanx of riot police prompted an outcry on social media

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

He was the peaceful activist whose sudden disappearance into a phalanx of riot police on a Baltimore street sparked a viral panic.

Sixteen hours after Joseph Kent, 21, was filmed being snatched by police out of a road in the west side of the city, the Guardian has established his whereabouts.

The Morgan State University student is currently in a large bullpen with other inmates on the second floor of Baltimore central booking, a jail 10 minutes from the city hall.

Kent, who has been charged with one count of breach of a 10pm curfew, wants the public to know he is “well and safe” and is asking Baltimore residents to follow his lead by refraining from violence.

Kent’s sudden disappearance around 11.10pm ET Tuesday was filmed by live CNN cameras, and prompted an outcry on social media. He had his hands in the air when riot police swooped in, and a police humvee-style truck temporarily blocked him from view of the media.

Joseph Kent was snatched off the street in Baltimore by police in full view of cameras. Photograph: Screen image via CNN

The student then seemingly vanishing without a trace. His name was soon trending on Twitter and Facebook amid complaints that the well-known Baltimore protester had been “kidnapped”.

Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) Must see VIDEO- Protester #JosephKent kidnapped by police http://t.co/SlS8c3eFXt

Kent might still be missing were it not for the efforts of Stephen Patrick Beatty, a local attorney who has been defending protesters and watched the ensuing drama unfold on Twitter.

“I was supposed to be going to bed,” Beatty told the Guardian. “Instead I was up all night and still haven’t gone to sleep.”

Beatty said he had to draw on local law enforcement contacts and tip-offs to help locate the young man in the chaos of the city’s overflowing jail system.

He only discovered Kent was in Baltimore’s central booking and intake center – a major holding facility for suspects – after 3am.

It wasn’t until 2.30pm Wednesday that Beatty finally sat down with Kent and relayed the uproar that followed in the wake of his disappearance. He described his client as initially “tickled” by the social media firestorm, but then said he asked his attorney to convey to the public he was safe.

He also asked his attorney to relay a message that the protests should remain peaceful. According to Beatty, the 21-year-old was imploring others to remain peaceful and return home when he was “snatched” off the street.

“His description was very similar to what happened on television,” Beatty said. “As the video shows, he was trying to get people to leave. He’s sick of the violence. He didn’t want to see any more of it. He was telling people to disperse.”

Beatty said his client “wanted police to know he was harmless so he had his hands up the whole time”.

“You’ll see on the video he walked very slow so there was nothing aggressive about him. He didn’t see the humvee coming, he didn’t hear the humvee coming,” Beatty said. “All he knew was that suddenly he was cut off from the cameras. Then he was grabbed by multiple people in riot gear.”

Kent is waiting to see the commissioner, to decide whether he will be released without bail.