February 4, 2005
By Angela Pomponio
Of The Morning Call

A suspended Allentown police officer charged with sexually assaulting his girlfriend in November was found dead Wednesday in Delaware from an apparent suicide, police said.

Christopher Dowling was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Lehigh County Court, but instead he slipped out of his parents' Delaware County home and went to the family's vacation mobile home in Millsboro, Del.

As relatives searched for him, Delaware state police believe Dowling, 26, lit two portable charcoal grills in a bedroom. The fumes, police believe, eventually killed him.

''It is absolutely tragic,'' said Dowling's attorney, Eric Dowdle. ''One of the last tragic events in a completely tragic story.''

He said his client had lost his job, home and reputation in a matter of days and feared the possibility of going to jail.

Dowling was arrested Nov. 17 by Allentown police after he allegedly handcuffed his girlfriend's hands behind her back, put an unlit M-80 firecracker in her vagina, repeatedly hit her with a tire iron and placed a 30-pound safe on her chest. The assault began, according to a criminal complaint, when he caught her lying about smoking cigarettes.

But the case took a bizarre turn at Dowling's December preliminary hearing when the 26-year-old woman said she was being forced through a prosecutor's subpoena to testify against Dowling.

The alleged assault, she said, was her idea.

''It was about dominance and submission,'' the woman testified. ''It was about showing a complete trust in someone and a complete submission to them.''

A call to Allentown police that she was being assaulted came from Dowling's friend, whom the officer called during the incident, according to court documents.

District Judge Karen Devine in Allentown dismissed charges of aggravated assault and terroristic threats but ordered Dowling to face trial on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and simple assault.

Dowdle said he had his last ''heart to heart'' conversation with Dowling after the preliminary hearing.

''He hugged me and thanked me for everything I did,'' Dowdle said. ''He was very hopeful that the charges were going to be dismissed.''

But on Monday, Dowling was ''very nervous and very scared'' when he talked to Dowdle's secretary about Tuesday's arraignment.

''Other than being a former police officer in jail, I don't know,'' Dowdle said when asked what Dowling feared most as the case's outcome.

Dowdle said he has talked to the woman, and she's ''completely devastated'' by Dowling's death.

Delaware state police Cpl. James Oldham said Dowling's death is being treated as a suicide, pending a medical examiner's final ruling.

Allentown police Chief Joseph Blackburn said the department issued a ''point of information'' alert to officers nationwide, hoping to locate Dowling as soon as possible.

Police officials also talked to Dowling's father numerous times during the past two days.

''When Christopher Dowling was hired as a police officer, we expected a long and very successful career from him. We never had any problems with him,'' Blackburn said of Dowling's year and a half on the police force. ''There is no positive side to any of this. It's a tragedy that will continue to affect everyone involved for a very, very long time.''

angela.pomponio@mcall.com
610-820-6790
http://www.mcall.com