Former CFL linebacker in a good place years after police incident resulted in career-ending injury

On a night he had every reason to live, Orlando Bowen believed he was going to die.

In March 2004, Bowen was planning to celebrate signing a contract extension with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The sixfoot-two, 238-pound linebacker was waiting in his car for friends in a Mississauga, Ont., parking lot when he was approached by two men asking if he had drugs.

After Bowen dismissed the question, the men identified themselves as Peel Regional police offers. Bowen says he was pulled from his car and an altercation ensued.

Bowen was charged with cocaine possession and assault; he alleged that the drugs had been planted. The case went to trail in 2005, and Bowen was acquitted after one of the officers was arrested on drug offences.

“I really thought I was going to die that night,” Bowen said. “The fact I’m here means there has to be purpose, there has to be a reason why I didn’t.

“My wife was pregnant and we had a one-year-old. I dreamed of holding my son in one arm and the Grey Cup in the other and couldn’t believe this was how I was going to die ... how could this be possible?”

Bowen later filed a $14-million lawsuit against Peel police, which was settled out of court. But while Bowen was exonerated, his football career was over because of a concussion he suffered during the incident. He’ll be honoured at BMO Field this afternoon as part of the CFL’s Diversity is Strength program. He will perform the coin flip prior to the Toronto ArgonautsB.C. Lions game with his wife, Skye, and sons Dante (15), Justice (turns 14 next month) and Marcus (12) in attendance.

Argos players and coaches will wear Diversity is Strength T-shirts with Bowen’s name and No. 37 featured on the back. The Lions will don shirts featuring head coach Wally Buono’s name and No. 39.

Bowen isn’t bitter that his pro career ended so abruptly because he looked at football as a platform to serve others and his community. After all, Bowen left a solid job in Chicago as an IT consultant following his college career at Northern Illinois to join the Argos in 2000.