Police were expecting a routine traffic stop on December 4 in St. Johns County, Florida, but when deputies pulled over a car on I-95, inside was 33-year-old Bahamian Tomal Bowe, a man wanted in the Bahamas for aggravated robbery in a Rolex heist and already facing several warrants in the U.S.
According to First Coast News, Bowe sped off, swerving into oncoming traffic and barreling the wrong way down the highway. Deputies forced his vehicle off the road, but Bowe got out of the vehicle, leaping over a guardrail, sprinting across lanes of traffic, and vanishing into the brush on foot.
Bowe had also escaped Bahamian police custody in 2020 and was not seen since.
Now US police conducted hours-long, multi-agency manhunt that stretched across woods, highways, and business parks.
Authorities say Bowe stole a van from a nearby complex, lost it after deputies deployed stop sticks, then disappeared again, this time into the woods. Heat-seeking helicopters, K-9 teams, and dozens of officers were dispersed in search of Bowe.
Crime expert Ken Jefferson told U.S. media that Bowe “looked like a man determined to get away.”
Using aerial infrared cameras, officers spotted Bowe’s heat signature deep in the bush. By the time deputies reached him, the Bowe fugitive was scratched, exhausted, half naked.
“You can run, but you can’t hide from heat-seeking helicopters and K-9 units,” Jefferson said, praising the coordination that ended the chase.
Bowe now faces a long list of charges in Florida:
- Fleeing and eluding law enforcement
- Resisting arrest
- Grand theft auto
- Possession of marijuana
- Plus active warrants in Broward County for drug possession and resisting an officer.
Featured images: First Coast News