CRIME & COURTS

Man charged with attempted murder after chase

Katherine Klingseis
kklingseis@dmreg.com

A man wanted for escaping custody and violating sex offender registry rules led a vehicle pursuit Wednesday evening and tried to ram a sheriff's deputy's vehicle before being captured and charged with attempted murder, authorities said.

The chase wound through a residential neighborhood on Des Moines' north side during rush hour, authorities said.

Larry Gowin, 64, is charged with attempted murder and eluding. He had been wanted for escape and the registry violation.

After noting the warrants for Gowin's arrest, a Polk County sheriff's deputy tried to stop the the Chevy Venture minivan Gowin was driving near East 14th Street and Douglas Avenue at 5:26 p.m., said Lt. Jana Abens, spokeswoman for the Polk County sheriff's office.

Gowin then made multiple turns in an area a few blocks north and south of Euclid Avenue from Northeast 14th Street to Northwest Second Street with deputies in pursuit, Abens said.

During the chase, Gowin crashed into a car in an intersection and a tree. No injuries were reported.

Eventually, a deputy intentionally collided with the van and spun it around. Gowin then rammed into the deputy's vehicle before he stopped the van, Abens said. The chase ended at Northwest Second Street and Seneca Avenue about seven minutes after it started.

The deputy was treated at the scene. Gowin was briefly hospitalized before he was jailed. He was being held without bond late Wednesday.

"As much as law enforcement agencies try to avoid pursuits, this subject was deemed too dangerous to let him go free," Abens wrote in a news release. "With three felony warrants, plus the eluding charge tonight, Gowin needed to be apprehended as soon as possible."

Gowin has been convicted numerous times in Iowa of offenses related to the sex offender registry, as well as theft. He was convicted in Nebraska in 1997 of two counts of attempting to sexually assault a girl under the age of 14.