Two officers filed reports on the traffic stop: Officer Jeremy Delaney and Sgt. Brett Logazino.
In her account, Bowden acknowledged that her husband had been speeding down Church Road in his Jaguar. In his police report, Logazino said he clocked Marche driving 63 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. Logazino, patrolling on his motorcycle, pulled the couple over. “I slowly approached the driver side of the vehicle due to the illegal window tint on all of the windows,” Logazino reported.
Both Bowden and Logazino wrote that Marche handed over proof of insurance and one of his wife’s business cards, saying he was rushing her to a medical emergency.
“I advised Ira that I needed his DL, not his wife’s business card,” Logazino said. “Ira searched around in his vehicle and was unable to locate his DL.”
Logazino said he returned to his motorcycle to begin writing citations. Shortly afterwards, Marche got out of the car to look for his emergency license in the trunk of the car.
“I asked Ira to return to his vehicle and he said that he was going to look in his trunk for his emergency driver’s license. Ira opened the trunk and I stood watch as he looked through his trunk,” Logazino wrote. “Ira was unable to locate his emergency driver’s license in the trunk and I advised him to have a seat back in his vehicle.”
The stories begin to diverge once Delaney arrived to back up Logazino.
“Officer Delaney immediately talked about arresting my husband,” Bowden wrote, adding that officers searched the trunk without permission. She said Delaney accused them of lying about their marriage because they have different last names.
Bowden, Logazino and Delaney all reported that Marche came around to the passenger side of the vehicle to look in the glove box. Bowden put her feet outside the car, and tensions escalated.
“I stood back and behind to observe what was inside the glove box for officer safety,” Delaney reported. “Ms. Bowden became angry and attempted to get out of the vehicle as well. I ordered Ms. Bowden to remain inside the vehicle.”
Bowden’s account: “Officer Delaney started yelling at me (saying) don’t get out of the car. I said, ‘Officer, I am not getting out of the car, I am giving him room to look for his license.’”
Bowden said she noticed that Delaney had his hand on his weapon.
Bowden said that her husband tried to calm her down: “My husband said to me, ‘Honey, be quiet, these people are red neck, they will hurt you. They don’t care who you are or what you have done for the community,” she wrote.
But both officers report that Marche began cursing.
“Ira then said ‘just calm down, this is a bunch of s–t from some redneck Mississippi cops,’” Logazino said.
“I sensed that the verbal altercation was escalating so I took Mr. Marche into custody,” Delaney reported. Logazino’s account reflected the arrest: “Delaney then moved Ira to the passenger side rear of the vehicle and placed him in handcuffs.”
“Ms. Bowden exited the vehicle against my orders and walked to the front of her vehicle,” Delaney reported. “She began talking on her cell phone, stating that she was speaking with Memphis Mayor AC Wharton’s wife.”
The police reports reflect that Bowden said she was talking to Mrs. Wharton. Bowden said Delaney kept demanding she produce a driver’s license, at one point seizing and searching her purse after she showed him its contents. Bowden said she offered to go get her license from her father’s home nearby, but the officers refused. Minutes later, Bowden was handcuffed, and Delaney called for another vehicle to transport her to jail.
“Officer Delany kept pressing down on the handcuffs and they were getting tighter and tighter,” Bowden wrote. “I said officer, ‘Please take your weight off the handcuffs, you are hurting me, officer you are hurting me.’”
Bowden said she begged the officers to loosen the cuffs, adding that she couldn’t access her asthma inhaler while handcuffed. She was so afraid, she began yelling at passing cars.
“I was so scared when I saw cars going by I started screaming for help and asking people to take pictures,” Bowden wrote.
Logazino: “While Marcia was handcuffed and we were waiting on another car, Marcia began yelling for help at each car that passed by on Church Road. Delaney asked her to stop yelling and she said that ‘she felt unsafe, because she was a black person around white police officers.’”
According to the police report, Bowden and Marche were taken in separate cars to DeSoto County Jail, where they were booked and photographed. Delaney and Logazino searched the car and had it towed. At the police station, Delaney reported that he called for EMS, and Marcia was taken to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital-DeSoto.
Bowden and Marche have retained attorneys and are scheduled for a court appearance on Wednesday morning.
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