AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Reports said police Friday found a loaded semiautomatic handgun inside the car of a man who was wanted on three first-degree felony counts of rape.
Raymond Bowman, 26, of Austintown, faces additional charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony; and fourth-degree felony counts of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and assault on a police officer.
Besides the rape warrants, Bowman was also wanted on two counts of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony.
Bowman is currently in the Mahoning County Jail. He is expected to be arraigned Monday in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown on the gun and assault charges. The sex charges are from a Mahoning County grand jury and there is no word on when he will appear in court for those charges.
Reports said an officer answering a call about 8:25 p.m. Friday saw another vehicle following a car in front of it too closely. The officer checked the plates of that car and found out it belonged to Bowman and that he was wanted for rape and gross sexual imposition charges.
The officer pulled the car over in the single-digit block of South Yorkshire Boulevard and waited for backup before other officers arrived to help, reports said. Reports said the officers handcuffed Bowman once he got out of the car and got on his knees, but he refused to roll over on the ground so they could check him for any weapons.
When the officers tried to roll him over, he kicked one of them, reports said.
Bowman was placed in a cruiser and kept banging his head against the back window as police searched his car before it was towed. Officers found the gun under the driver’s seat, reports said.
Reports said the jail refused to admit Bowman because he had a bruise on his head from banging it on the window. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center to be examined, and when he was cleared by hospital staff, he was booked into the jail.
Details of the charges arising from the warrants are not yet available.
