Police: Tip Leads To Arrest Of Township Man With Handgun

Donte Dowdell. Photo: Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

A tip to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office led to the arrest of a 20-year-old township man on a gun charge, but not before the man crashed his car into two other vehicles while trying to elude police, authorities said.

Police charged Donte Dowdell with 2nd Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and 2nd Degree Eluding Jan. 4, after Dowdell allegedly tried to escape police following a motor vehicle stop on Mark Street.

The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force received a tip that Dowdell would be arriving in that general area in a red Chrysler Sebring, and that he would be carrying a .32 caliber handgun, according to a release from the prosecutor’s office.

Task Force detectives and the Franklin Township Crime Suppression Unit saw Dowdell arrive in the area at about 4:25 p.m., according to the release. The detectives attempted a motor vehicle stop, at which time Dowdell tried to elude police by conducting evasive maneuvers, according to the release.

Dowdell drove down Victor Street, where he allegedly threw a white plastic bag out of his car’s driver’s side window, according to the release. He continued to elude police for about 10 minutes, until his car struck a parked van and an unmarked police car at Lewis Street and Norma Avenue, where he was apprehended, according to the release.

Police retrieved the white plastic bag that Dowdell allegedly threw out of the car and found inside it the .32 caliber handgun and nine .32 caliber rounds.

Dowdell on Jan. 5 remained incarcerated at the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, on $100,000 cash bail.

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