Officer Joseph Banks Jr, 25, died Friday at a motel in Halethorpe, Maryland

Authorities say an off-duty Baltimore police officer who followed in his father's footsteps and chose law enforcement as a career suffered a fatal heroin overdose at a motel.

Officer Joseph Banks Jr died Friday at a motel in Halethorpe.

The 25-year-old had been assigned to the juvenile booking unit, The Baltimore Sun reported.

A Baltimore County police report says Banks had been using drugs with his girlfriend throughout much of the day on Thursday and overdosed.

Banks' girlfriend, 24, told investigators that after he had used up the last of the heroin at around 11pm, he sounded as if he was struggling to breathe.

She tried to administer Narcan to counteract the overdose and called 911 shortly after 3am on Friday.

However, paramedics were unable to revive Banks.

Investigators said Banks and his girlfriend were using heroin and drinking alcohol throughout much of the day Thursday. They were in a room at Tim's Motel (seen in the above stock image)

Banks was described as a 'great kid' and a 'great guy' by a neighbor who lived near his family

Banks 'followed his father's footsteps' by becoming a police officer in Baltimore, according to friends

Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott knew Banks.

He called the officer's death another tragic example of the reach of addiction.

'They were a very close-knit family, you know,' a neighbor of the family, David Johns, told WJZ-TV.

'I feel devastated. I know they feel devastated...I knew Joe, I knew little Joe.

'He was a great kid, he was a great guy.'