Social media claims of police brutality prompted Platteville police to issue a news release on a medical incident Oct. 10. Police did not identify the man, but social media posts identified him as Hywel Bowman Jr., who is facing 31 charges for three Platteville incidents since last December. Police bodycam videos show officers addressing the man as “Hywel” during the incident.
Bowman is now at UW Hospital in Madison, where he was flown by Med Flight helicopter after the incident with injuries that police say occurred before they handcuffed him and placed leg restraints on him.
Police Lt. Josh Grabandt said he is “proud of the officers and the actions they took. They saved his life.”
Police showed footage Monday morning from the bodycams of police Sgt. Kris Purkapile and officers Kevin Murphy and Jeremy Tyler, as well as a camera from the back yard of the house where Bowman was arrested.
Police received a call about a man harming himself on East Madison Street Oct. 10 around 11:35 p.m. Police said the caller said a family member was banging his head on counters and a washing machine inside the house.
The videos contain sound of a woman talking to officers, then breaking glass when, according to police, Bowman jumped out of a house window and ran over two fences to the backyard of an adjacent house. Bowman then repeatedly punched a back door window, breaking the window and the glass, as officers were going from the house where the incident was reported to where Bowman ran, as the videos depict.
The videos show officers speaking to Bowman but do not show any contact with Bowman before the back yard of the adjacent house.
Police said the man collapsed onto a concrete step in the backyard of the adjacent house, landing on his back and neck.
The videos show the officers placing handcuffs on Bowman, who was lying on his back. Police chief Doug McKinley said that was the first physical contact officers had with him.
The videos also show officers placing a tourniquet on Bowman’s right arm to stop bleeding from his injury before a UW–Platteville police officer who is also an EMT took over care before Southwest Health EMS, which was staged at the former National Guard Armory on North Water Street arrived.
McKinley said an officer then applied leg restraints to Bowman because he was “flailing around.”
McKinley said Bowman put up “no resistance so it wasn’t like we were using pressure points or anything to restrain him other than putting on the cuffs.”
Platteville Fire assisted at the scene.
Bowman is charged with two counts of battery to a law enforcement officer, felony battery, throwing or discharging bodily fluids at a public safety worker, two counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, five counts of criminal damage to property, seven counts of felony bail jumping, and 11 counts of misdemeanor bail jumping.
The charges are tied to a standoff at the Super 8 Motel in Platteville Dec. 19, an incident in which a Platteville police officer was injured Feb. 20, and another incident March 24.
Bowman was bound over for trial and stood mute to the battery-related charges March 2. Not-guilty pleas were entered on Bowman’s behalf.
Grant County Circuit Judge Robert VanDeHey ruled April 13 that though Bowman “has some type of mental illness that could be possibly improved with medications,” Bowman understood the legal process, according to court records.
But on April 25, VanDe-Hey ruled that Bowman is not competent to stand trial based on a doctor’s examination and statements made at Bowman’s April 13 hearing, according to court records.
VanDeHey then ruled July 13 that Bowman was competent to stand trial and set a $1,000 signature bond. Iowa County Circuit Judge Matthew Allen, who replaced Van-DeHey after his retirement, took over the case and Bowman stood mute to the charges Sept. 6, with not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf.
After a status conference Oct. 4, Bowman’s new attorney filed motions to suppress evidence in the hotel-standoff case, according to court records. A motion hearing is scheduled for Dec. 27.
Police received a report of a man on the street with a knife who was threatening people and damaging property near Madison Street and Jefferson Street Feb. 20.
According to the criminal complaint, after an officer tried to apprehend him for an outstanding warrant, Bowman started to run, then turned back to the officer, and as the officer reached for him Bowman hit the officer in his left upper jaw with Bowman’s right fist, knocking him to the ground.
The officer suffered a broken facial bone and split lip and was off duty due to the injuries, police said.
Bowman then was chased by a police car. According to the criminal complaint, Bowman was hit by a Taser and three times by OC spray. Bowman then started running before a man tackled him. Bowman also tried to bite an officer, the criminal complaint said. Bowman is accused of throwing a rock through one vehicle’s windshield and scratching another vehicle with a knife.
A knife was recovered by police when he was arrested.
Bowman was taken to Southwest Health for medical clearance, but at the hospital after getting two cups of water he spat the second cup at an EMT. Bowman also tried to leave the hospital after getting out of the ambulance, the criminal complaint said.
Police were called to the Super 8 Dec. 19 around 8:30 a.m. for a report that a guest had made threats to other guests and staff. Bowman had barricaded himself inside a room and had damaged property, police said, and made other threats and refused to leave.
The Southwest Wisconsin Emergency Response Team negotiated with Bowman for four hours before entry was made into Bowman’s room, police said.
Bowman pleaded not guilty to the hotel-standoff charges Jan. 13.
McKinley said charges of criminal damage to property and trespassing are being referred to the Grant County district attorney’s office for the Oct. 10 incident.
Police have not decided whether to release the bodycam video publicly. McKinley said police are required to balance the public’s right to know and the privacy rights of the person depicted on the police video.
