Santa Rosa
Fugitive Captured and 2 Others Also Arrested by Pensacola U.S.
Marshals Task Force In Dothan
DOTHAN, AL - The U.S. Marshals
North Florida Violent Fugitive Task Force, and members from Santa
Rosa, Okaloosa and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office apprehended
Damian Lee McGowan after a week of being on the run. The 25 year old
McGowan was being sought by the Sheriff’s Office in Santa Rosa for
Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer, Escape and Theft; after he
struck a Santa Rosa Deputy who was attempting to place him under
arrest after traffic stop. According to reports, the deputy placed
one handcuff on McGowan who spun around, struck the officer, ran off
into the woods and jumped a fence on the property of the Air
Products Chemical in company in Pace. After fleeing, McGowan, who
also worked at the chemical company; broke into a tool building and
stayed there, and filed off the handcuffs while police and a
helicopter were still searching for him. According to the police
reports, McGowan was stopped for a broken taillight. When the
deputies discovered that he had a suspended license for being a
habitual offender of driving infractions, they began taking steps to
place him under arrest. The reports also stated that as they
attempted to do so McGowan said “Please don’t do this to me I am
gonna have to go back to prison,” before fleeing.
Yesterday, Santa Rosa investigators contacted their partners on the
Marshals Task Force from Pensacola and requested their help after
receiving a Crime Stopper’s tip that McGowan may be in Dothan.
Earlier this morning, they teamed up and headed toward Dothan
contacting the U.S. Marshals’ Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force asking
them for help. After attempting to locate McGowan at a trailer where
the fugitive was thought to be hiding, they determined that there
was a possible second address where he might be. At about 3 o’clock,
the two task forces with the help of Dothan City Police Department
and Hudson County Sheriff’s Office arrested McGowan at his sister’s
house on County Road 33 in Cottonwood, Alabama. While searching the
house, he was spotted by a task force deputy hiding outside of a
window he just crawled out of. He was placed under arrest without
further incident. Also arrested was McGowan’s sister, 20 year old
Cindy McGowan and Michael Allen Alexander, 19 who will be charged
with Possession of Marijuana and Obstruction of Justice. Damian
McGowan was also charged with Possession of a Forged Instrument. All
charges are felonies in Alabama. All three will be booked in the
Houston County Jail in Dothan. |