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American politician and educator, Jamaal Bowman, who has been serving as the Democratic U.S. Representative for New York’s 16th congressional district since 2021, recently came under fire after he pulled a fire alarm at approximately 12:05 pm on the second floor of the Capitol’s Cannon House Office Building on September 30, 2023, as per NPR. The incident prompted an evacuation.
As per Bowman’s statement on the matter, he thought that pulling the alarm button would open an emergency door, as both the buttons lay side by side. However, as per Republicans, the buttons were clearly marked, and under no circumstances should the error have happened.
Ever since the piece of news surfaced on the internet, claims have emerged that Jamaal Bowman has been arrested by the Capitol police for intentionally obstructing a government proceeding. In fact, images showing Bowman in handcuffs are also doing rounds on social media.
However, claims of him being arrested have turned out to be false as evidenced by a Twitter advisory below the post itself. In fact, as per the Washington Post, the arrest picture being circulated is from a previous arrest of Bowman that happened in January 2022, when he was protesting against the failure of an election bill.
As for the present fiasco, Jamaal Bowman is under investigation, but he has not yet been arrested.
Jamaal Bowman is not facing any charges yet for pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol
On Saturday, at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington D.C.’s Capitol, U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman pulled a bright red alarm which reportedly was clearly marked with the term “FIRE,” as per NBC News.
As per the media outlet, the fire alarm side is right next to two other signs that offer clear details on how to open the emergency door. In fact, according to the New York Post, the sign read as follows:
“Emergency Exit Only! Push until the alarm sounds (3 seconds). Door will unlock in 30 seconds.”
While Bowman tagged it as an unintentional error, the opposition described it as a desperate attempt to delay the vote. In fact, Jamaal Bowman took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account to clarify his mistake. He began by saying how he was late for the House Office and was rushing when he found the said door closed, which usually remains open. He further added:
"I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused. But I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote. It was the exact opposite.”
Bowman also continued by saying how he was urgently trying to reach the House to “get to a vote” which he eventually did “in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open.”
Incidentally, Jamaal Bowman’s gaffe was captured on surveillance camera, which revealed that he did not really turn his head to where the signs were explicitly demarcated, but simply pushed the fire alarm button.
As soon as the images and footage of Bowman pulling the fire alarm became viral, another picture also came to the forefront; that of his arrest by the Capitol police. However, no news outlet has so far confirmed this piece of news.
In fact, upon analysis, it was revealed that the arrest image circulated on X was fake and was from a prior arrest that happened in January 2022 when the Congressman was protesting in front of the Capitol against a election bill failure.
Meanwhile, it is important to note that both the Capitol Police as well as the Republican-controlled House Administration Committee has put the matter under investigation.
As per the New York Post, Jamaal Bowman’s action, if proven to be deliberate to delay the House vote on a Republican stopgap spending bill, can result in felony charges. In fact, obstructing an official government proceeding is illegal under federal law, and is punishable by heavy fines and prison time of “not more than 20 years.”
For those curious, the fire alarm incident triggered an emergency evacuation of the Cannon House Office Building around noon, when the Congress was in full session.
In fact, as per NBC News, during that time the Democrats were trying their best to stop the Republicans’ last-minute attempt to prevent a government shutdown and instead keep it open for another 45 days and were trying to make a vote on their spending measures.
Apart from other Republicans who criticized Jamaal Bowman’s move and called it a ruse to delay the vote, former President Donald Trump also wrote on Truth Social that Congressman Bowman deserves to be “prosecuted and imprisoned for very dangerously pulling and setting off the main fire alarm system in order to stop a Congressional vote that was going on in D.C.”
Some Republicans even compared the incident to the January 6, 2021, riots in the Capitol, following the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election for which, over a thousand people are currently being prosecuted, including the former President himself.
