Man alleges beating by Flint police during traffic stop

Flint, MI—A Facebook post from Deangelo Bowman went viral last night alleging two Flint police officers broke his nose and fractured his eye socket after pulling him over.

The post has over one thousand shares and hundreds of comments, and contains three photos of Bowman’s facial injuries including bruising and swelling of his eyes. 

Chief Terence Green said the Facebook post doesn’t tell the whole story.

According to Green, officers were dispatched to the scene of a single motor vehicle personal injury accident at 4 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4th.

He said officers that arrived at the scene observed a 2018 white Dodge Charger crashed into a tree, the vehicle still running and in drive. 

Bowman was the sole occupant in the driver’s seat and Green said he was unconscious and “suffering from facial injuries.”

“When officers tried to place the vehicle into park and wake the driver, the driver became conscious and combative,” Green said. 

He said he fought officers and resisted being handcuffed, and then officers radio dispatched for additional help. 

When more officers arrived to the scene, Green said they began to “escalate force.”

“First they pepper sprayed the driver, that was not effective. Then they deployed a taser, that was effective,” he said. 

According to Green, Bowman was handcuffed, placed under arrest and then taken to Hurley Medical Center for treatment. One officer was also taken to Hurley after Bowman bit him during the incident, Green said. 

Once Bowman was released from the medical center, Green said he was taken to Genesee County Jail for assault on a police officer, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and resisting and obstructing. 

“The officers’ vehicles were equipped with dash cam and audio, but the entire incident was not captured on the dash cam,” Green said. “But at this point there is no indication that officers violated any department policies and procedures.” 

Bowman made another Facebook post sharing that the officers involved were white, but Green said there is “nothing to indicate that race was a factor” in the incident. 

Green said he is encouraging Bowman to step forward and file a complaint about what happened.