By Kathleen Brady Shea
Philadelphia Inquirer
A convicted drug dealer out on bail was shot Monday morning in Chadds Ford Township by a state trooper who believed the man was pulling a gun from his pants during a scuffle, police said.
State Police Lt. Thomas J. McClung said the trooper, who was not identified, thought that James Junior Bowman, 29, of Kennett Square, was reaching for a gun after he refused commands to stop resisting arrest about 1:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Wawa on Route 1.
The trooper fired a single shot, hitting the unarmed Bowman in the neck, police said. The convenience store was not open at the time.
McClung described Bowman as “alert and conscious” late yesterday afternoon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault, drug possession, and driving under the influence.
According to the criminal complaint, the trooper spotted two “suspicious vehicles” in the Painters Crossing shopping center at Routes 1 and 202 and alerted dispatchers that he was following Bowman, who was swerving as he traveled south on Route 1.
The trooper stopped Bowman at the Wawa and smelled marijuana as he approached the vehicle, the complaint said. Bowman then initiated a struggle that resulted in both men falling to the ground before the shot was fired, the complaint said.
Police said that they found crack cocaine in Bowman’s car and that hospital personnel found a plastic bag containing suspected marijuana in Bowman’s groin area.