NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — A state trooper was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed a man who fled from a traffic stop on U.S. 71 on Saturday night, Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune said Wednesday.
Trooper Michael Bowman fired three shots from his .45-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol into the suspect’s abdomen from close range, McCune said in an interview. The victim, 28-year-old Christopher Wayne Snyder, had struggled against being handcuffed, thrown Bowman to the ground and tried to strangle him, McCune said.
Snyder wasn’t armed and weighed about 175 pounds, compared to Bowman, 41, at 145 pounds, McCune said.
The trooper “was defending himself from the use or imminent use of deadly physical force by Christopher Snyder,” McCune wrote in a letter Wednesday to Arkansas State Police officials. “Trooper Bowman’s actions were not only reasonable and professional, they were also necessary to save his life.”
McCune described a lifeand-death struggle between the officer and his suspectabout 11:30 p.m. Saturday after Bowman stopped a vehicle about 14 miles northeast of Van Buren on U.S. 71.
Snyder pleaded guilty in 2008 to failing to register as a sex offender and was placed on six years probation, according to Washington County court records.
Bowman, who was on paid administrative leave during the investigation, was back at work Wednesday afternoon, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
State police is continuing its internal investigation into the shooting, which won’t be made public, Sadler said.
“The job performance record would be released only in case of suspension or termination,” Sadler said. “That is not the case here. This trooper did exactly what he was trained to do.”
Bowman was traveling north when he met a southbound vehicle that his radar showed was traveling 78 mph in a 55 mph zone, McCune said. The prosecuting attorney described these events:
Snyder pulled into a driveway beside an abandoned trailer and ran. Bowman drove in behind him.
As he ran, Snyder cleareda barbed-wire fence that tore part of his shirt before he found himself hemmed in behind another empty trailer, McCune said. Bowman ordered Snyder to the ground in a prone position. Snyder got down, but his upper body remained up on his forearms, McCune said.
“Trooper Bowman put his knee in the small of Snyder’s back,” McCune said. “He was trying to handcuff Snyder’s left wrist, trying to pull his left hand behind his back to handcuff it. Snyder would not comply to any of his voice commands.”
McCune said Bowman struck Snyder’s right shoulder area with his flashlight “to get him flat on the ground and get his left wrist behind his back.” When that didn’t succeed, he struck Snyder on his left side.
“Snyder then raised up and got on top of Mike [Bowman] and started strangling him,” McCune said. “Mike told him to stop, it’s over. Snyder told him, ‘No, it’s not over.’ [Snyder] was strangling him to the point where Mike thought he was passing out. Mike got his service weapon. Snyder was still strangling him with one hand and fighting Mike with the other.”
Bowman pressed his Glock against Snyder’s abdomen and pulled the trigger, but the gun wouldn’t fire. McCune said the Glock is designed not to fire “when the barrel is pressed up against something. [Bowman] pulled the weapon off so it wasn’t against [Snyder’s] body and fired three times.”
The trooper at first thought he had missed, because Snyder continued to struggle, McCune said. Bowman didn’t want the suspect to get his loaded service weapon, so he ejected the magazine and triedto eject the last live round in the chamber, McCune said.
“While he was trying to get that last round ejected, Snyder said, ‘You’re right, it is over’ and fell over,” McCune said.
Snyder was pronounced dead at the scene. Bowman had injuries to his face, wrist and hands and bruising to his throat, McCune said. He was treated at a hospital and released.
Asked if investigators had learned more about why Snyder would have fled the traffic stop, McCune said that people who were with him earlier that evening said he had “seven or eight beers prior to leaving, going to a residence in Alma where he stays.” That address was not the same address Snyder had given to authorities as a registered sex offender, Mc-Cune said.
Snyder had in his wallet “a sheet of 25 reasons why not to go back to prison,” McCune said. Investigators theorized that Snyder was worried about being caught drunken driving and not living where he was registered.
A state medical examiner will test Snyder’s blood alcohol level if the test is possible. “There was very little blood left,” McCune said.
Snyder’s prior sex offense conviction was in Oregon, Mc-Cune said. No further information was available on that charge late Wednesday.
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Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/26/2012