Southington Man Sentenced In Assault Of Police Officers

Justin Muszynski, The Bristol Press

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A Southington man has been sentenced to three years in prison for arrests over multiple years in which court records say he assaulted police or tried to on multiple occasions and broke his car out of a holding area where police had it towed.

Jeffrey Bowman, 24, received the sentence on Monday after previously pleading guilty to charges of assault on police, attempted assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief and violation of a protective order. He also admitted to violating his probation – which he had been serving for a second-degree robbery conviction in 2017.

The three-year prison term handed down Monday will be followed by four years of special parole.

Bowman’s sentence was part of a plea deal his attorney negotiated.

Bowman, of Old Turnpike Road in Southington, was initially arrested in October 2019 for an incident in Bristol, in Rockwell Park. Officers responded to the park on the report of an intoxicated male and encountered Bowman. Upon telling him he needed to go to the hospital because he appeared “highly intoxicated,” Bowman struck one officer and began swinging at another, police wrote in the report.

The officer who was struck declined medical attention, police reports indicate. Following his outburst, Bowman was brought to a grassy area by two policemen. There, he continued trying to throw punches, resisted officers and tried reaching for one of their faces, police said in their reports.

Following that arrest, Bowman was subsequently charged with violating his probation – which stems from an incident in March 2017 in which Bowman and another Plantsville resident assaulted a man in a vehicle parked in Page Park, in Bristol, according to police. They punched him in the face repeatedly and robbed him, leaving the victim with a broken nose, black eyes and bumps all over his head.

Bowman was arrested again in September 2020 and accused of violating a protective order that had been issued in connection with a previous matter. No additional information was immediately available in that case.

The 24-year-old was also arrested in January 2021 and April of the same year.

In January 2021, Southington police were dispatched to a possible domestic violence incident at the Dunkin Donuts on North Main Street. Police pulled Bowman over on West Center Street, at Beecher Street, where they found that he was with someone with whom there had been a protective order issued.

According to Southington police, Bowman quickly exited the vehicle and charged at officers, fighting with police. He was eventually taken into custody.

In April 2021, Bowman was arrested twice within a few hours after striking a mailbox on Old Turnpike Road and being found with more than 10 ounces of marijuana before later breaking his car out of a holding area police use.

Police said he rammed the gate where his vehicle was being held, causing $3,000 worth of damages before eluding police and ultimately driving himself to the police department to pick up his girlfriend, who had also been charged.

Bowman got out of his car and ran when police spotted him outside the department, according to police. He was tracked using a K9 along the linear trail before being taken into custody near Flanders Street, police said.