Rep. Bowman Set to Enter Guilty Plea for Fire Alarm Incident

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., has agreed to plead guilty to falsely triggering a fire alarm on Sept. 30 in the Cannon House Office Building.

He was charged by the attorney general of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday but struck a deal with prosecutors for the charges to be dropped in three months in exchange for a formal apology and a $1,000 fine.

Bowman is ordered to appear before the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on Thursday morning to enter his plea agreement.

According to the charging documents, the Capitol Police’s investigation found “probable cause to believe that the defendant willfully or knowingly gave a false fire alarm” in the city.

The congressman pulled the alarm during a critical vote on a House bill put forward by Republicans to temporarily fund the federal government through Nov. 17.

While he claimed he pulled the alarm in a hurry, thinking it would open a door  so he could make his way to the vote, video footage released publicly called his claims into question.

Capitol Police initially appeared to corroborate part of Bowman’s story on Oct. 2, describing him in a statement as a man “seen trying to exit the door in the Cannon Building and then pulling the fire alarm.”

However, it stopped short of calling his decision an accident.

Bowman and the D.C. attorney general’s office confirmed the news to Axios in statements.

“I am responsible for activating a fire alarm, I will be paying the fine issued, and look forward to these charges being ultimately dropped,” Bowman said in his.