Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Peter Bowen, who oversees short-term rental regulation, also allegedly looked through his glove compartment for a badge and told officers that they wouldn’t be able to get him to comply with their orders because he could bench-press more than 400 pounds, according to an NOPD report that The Times-Picayune obtained late Friday.
After he crashed his pickup truck in the French Quarter and New Orleans police stopped him on suspicion of drunk driving late Thursday, a senior official in Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration demanded that the cops call NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson and warned, “You’re going to regret doing this,” investigators allege.Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Peter Bowen, who oversees short-term rental regulation, also allegedly looked through his glove compartment for a badge and told officers that they wouldn’t be able to get him to comply with their orders because he could bench-press more than 400 pounds, according to an NOPD report that The Times-Picayune obtained late Friday.Cantrell has suspended Bowen, 33, without pay pending an investigation into his conduct. Officers booked him into the Orleans Parish jail on counts of driving while intoxicated, criminal property damage, driving without insurance and other traffic offenses.In their report, police describe encountering Bowen after he allegedly crashed his Ford F-150 into two parked cars and poles supporting balconies on two homes and one business at the corner of Dumaine and Chartres streets about 11:05 p.m.Officers spotted Bowen asleep in the driver’s seat with his pickup’s engine running, police wrote in the report. A sergeant woke Bowen, who slurred, had the smell of alcohol on his breath, and was unable to stand on his own, police alleged.Bowen at one point allegedly dug through his glove box and – when the sergeant asked what he was doing – said, “Looking for my badge.”Officers said they then took Bowen to the NOPD’s DWI testing facility on Tchoupitoulas Street, where he allegedly lay on the ground and yelled, “Call Shaun Ferguson.” Officers eventually got Bowen to his feet while police read him his rights, the report added.Bowen allegedly declined to undergo either a field sobriety test or what is commonly known as a Breathalyzer test, instead repeating to officers, “Call Shaun Ferguson.”At one point he allegedly threatened retribution.“You’re going to regret doing this. You’re going to be suspended for a year,” Bowen said, according to the documents.While allegedly ignoring orders to sit down in a chair, Bowen said he could bench-press 405 pounds, a remark that officers interpreted as a taunt that they “would be unable to get him … to comply.”Bowen repeatedly said he was a deputy CAO at City Hall and warned at least one officer that he would not “fare well” if he didn’t stop what he was doing, police alleged in the report.Paramedics brought Bowen to University Medical Center after he complained that officers’ handcuffs had hurt his wrists, officers wrote in their report.After medical staff evaluated him at the hospital, officers booked Bowen with DWI and four other counts. Police described Bowen’s level of impairment as “extreme.”Bowen allegedly refused to sign the citation that officers gave to him, which ordered him to appear at New Orleans Traffic Court on March 17.City spokesperson Beau Tidwell said in a prepared statement Friday morning that Cantrell expected Bowen to be held accountable for his alleged actions."The mayor's office is aware of the incident, which is under active and ongoing investigation by the NOPD. Mayor Cantrell expects full accountability in this matter," Tidwell said.Attempts to reach Bowen were unsuccessful.Bowen is the second member of Cantrell's senior staff to be arrested on allegations of driving while intoxicated this year and the third-high profile DWI arrest across city government.Police arrested Collin Arnold, the city's emergency preparedness director, in January after they allegedly found him asleep in his city-owned vehicle after crashing into a parked car. He returned to his job after a 60-day unpaid suspension. Arnold has pleaded not guilty.District D City Council member Jared Brossett was arrested on suspicion of DWI in October, in the middle of his campaign for an at-large seat on the council. It was Brossett's third arrest for drunk driving. He suspended his campaign and did not appear at council meetings for about a month. He said he needed the time to seek inpatient treatment. The case has been pending.Bowen oversees short-term rental regulation as head of the Office of Business and External Affairs. He was a controversial hire in July 2020 because he had previously worked as an executive for Sonder Holdings Inc., a major short-term rental operator in the city. A financial disclosure in May showed that he continued to hold stock in the company worth between $50,000 and $99,999.Bowen has said he is not allowed to dispose of the stock while Sonder is privately held. The company has a tentative merger deal to go public by the end of January. Bowen is not allowed to participate in any Sonder transaction with the city, according to an August opinion of the State Ethics Board, which approved the administration's plan to put a subordinate in charge of its dealings with the company.
