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| Police Officer Charged With Sexual Assault, Terroristic Threats
Quote: Allentown officer charged with a sexual assault
He penetrated her using unlit firecracker, police report says.
By Angela Pomponio
Of The Morning Call
An Allentown police officer is in solitary confinement at Lehigh County Prison after police said he sexually assaulted a woman with an unlit firecracker and threatened to kill her.
Christopher L. Dowling, 25, was arrested shortly after 4 a.m. Wednesday outside his city apartment, nearly four hours after police were called there for a dispute inside, police said in a news release.
Police Chief Joseph C. Blackburn said officers spoke to Dowling over the telephone during that time span, eventually coaxing him into coming out of the gated complex along with the alleged victim.
''There was no negotiator there,'' Blackburn said Thursday. ''We explained we needed to get in to check on things. … We convinced him we needed to talk to him and in there.''
The woman, who was treated at St. Luke's Hospital-Allentown Campus , told police that shortly after midnight, Dowling handcuffed her on the kitchen floor, placed a 30-pound safe on her chest and sat a shot glass on her forehead, according to a criminal complaint.
Dowling, who has been on the force for 16 months, pulled out his police-issue gun and told her he would ''take care of her'' if either the safe or the shot glass fell, according to court documents.
The woman said Dowling kicked her repeatedly with his steel-toed boots and hit her with a tire iron before placing an M-80 inside her vagina, the complaint states.
Dowling allegedly threatened to light the firecracker if she ever lied to him, police wrote in the complaint.
Blackburn said Dowling was charged with aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment. After an arraignment before District Justice Karen Devine, he was committed to Lehigh County Prison under $100,000 bail.
''We discussed the case from very, very early on in the investigation with the and numerous times as the case developed,'' Blackburn said. ''We sought their advice and followed their advice throughout the entire case.''
Dowling has been suspended without pay pending further action, a move that's required by state law whenever an officer is charged with serious crimes, Blackburn said.
On Thursday, members of Dowling's platoon were briefed on the incident, Blackburn said.
''Obviously, a police department never feels good about a police officer's arrest, especially for such serious charges,'' he said. ''We also have great concern for the victims of these kinds of assaults. There's two parts to this.''
The department did not have problems with Dowling before Wednesday's incident, Blackburn said.
Although Dowling is in his own cell, prison officials would not release his picture to the media, citing security.
''Inmates have access to newspapers,'' said Ed Sweeney, director of corrections. ''If he does stay incarcerated, he's going to need to blend in if we have to move him from solitary confinement.'' | |
