INDEPENDENCE, Ky. -- Kentucky State Police arrested a man Thursday morning they've accused of crashing one stolen car and then carjacking another to escape from the scene of the wreck on Cox Road.
Independence Police arrived in the 800 block of Cox Road shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday to find a woman with facial injuries. She told police she stopped at the scene of an automobile accident, which turned out to be a stolen car from Covington. A man fled from the wrecked car, jumped into her car and asked her to drive him from the scene. He threatened her with a gun, but he didn't display the weapon, the woman told police.
Police say the woman escaped the car and retrieved her child from the backseat, but was also injured when the man drove over her feet as he sped away in her car. The woman was transported to an area hospital for treatment, and her child was released to a relative.
A Kentucky State Police officer from the Campbellsburg post located the woman's stolen car and arrested Justin Bowlin, 35, of LaGrange, Kentucky. Independence police said they found an assortment of new power tools in the trunk that were similar to those stolen in Fort Thomas.
Bowlin was charged with robbery, assault, speeding, fleeing police by car and on foot, criminal mischief, reckless driving, improper passing, following another vehicle too closely, driving with a suspended license, receiving stolen property, tampering with evidence, endangering a police officer, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana, police said.
Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said Bowlin could face 20-50 years if convicted, based on his prior criminal record. Bowlin was being held in the Carroll County Jail. Bowlin has been arrested at least 20 times since December 1999.
"Right now, our concern is for the young lady who was assaulted, and (we) are grateful for her heroic efforts in retrieving her child from the vehicle," Independence Police said in a news release.
