Police in Colorado say shots were fired at TV bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman and a bail bondsman when they tried to apprehend a man whose bail was revoked on an attempted murder charge.
Colorado Springs police Sgt. Roger Vargason says the two were attempting to take 35-year-old Hoang Nguyen into custody at an apartment complex Tuesday night when Nguyen shot at them at least once with a handgun and fled on a motorcycle.
No injuries were reported.
Vargason says initial reports showed Chapman and the bondsman were armed only with paintball guns.
Police said Chapman apprehended Nguyen early Wednesday. He was due in court Wednesday afternoon.
Chapman is best known for the TV reality series “Dog the Bounty Hunter” on the A&E network.
IN the family of Duane Chapman (a k a Dog the Bounty Hunter, above), capturing fugitives trumps wedding festivities. Dog’s daughter, Lyssa Chapman, married Brahman Gallanti on the Hawaiian island of Oahu last Saturday – but she and her father and mother were pulled out of a rehearsal dinner the night before to make an arrest. “They had to run off to catch a fugitive and left their family and friends to finish dessert,” said our source. The blushing bride was back in time to exchange vows at the Lanikuhonua resort.
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The move comes after Duane “Dog” Chapman’s racist rant.
The Hawaii-based reality TV show “Dog the Bounty Hunter†is off-the-air “for the foreseeable future,” said the A&E cable network, two days after the release of a tape in which star Duane “Dog†Chapman was caught in a racist rant about his son’s black girlfriend.
“In evaluating the circumstances of the last few days, A&E has decided to take ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ off the network’s schedule for the foreseeable future,†A&E said in statement. “We hope that Mr. Chapman continues the healing process that he has begun.â€
The change means that the show’s re-runs will be pulled off the air indefinitely and that production continues to be suspended as the network investigates the incident, said an A&E network executive this morning. He said an online report today, picked up by the Star-Bulletin, saying that the show was canceled was incorrect.
The network had suspended the show Wednesday after the National Enquirer posted the tape online in which Chapman repeatedly uses the N-word as he tries to convince his son Tucker to break up with his girlfriend.
In the conversation, Chapman tells his son that he wants to use the N-word without worrying about his son’s black girlfriend and urges him to leave her or lose his job at one of the family’s businesses. He uses the N-word to describe the woman whom the Enquirer identified as Monique Shinnery.
Before today’s announcement, a major sponsor for the show said it was pulling its support. Yum! Brands, who advertises its Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants on the show, said it pulled its ads from the show effective immediately, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s despicable,†a Yum! spokeswoman said about Chapman’s rant, according to the Journal. “We are no longer advertising on the show.â€
Chapman has since apologized for his behavior. “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” shot mostly in Hawaii, was in its fifth season and was one of A&E’s most popular shows.
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Television bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman’s son taped a private phone conversation in which the reality star used a racial slur repeatedly, then sold it to a tabloid for “a lot of money,” Chapman’s lawyer said Thursday.
“I guess because of whatever level of anger he had of his father, he felt the need to express it in that manner,” attorney Brook Hart told The Associated Press.
Tucker Chapman could not be reached for comment; no one answered the telephone at a Honolulu number listed under his name.
The National Enquirer on Wednesday posted on its Web site a clip of a conversation in which Duane Chapman, star of the hit A&E series “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” repeatedly used the N-word in reference to Tucker’s girlfriend.
Chapman later apologized to his son and the woman, then learned about how the tape got into the tabloid’s hands, Hart said.
A&E has suspended production of the series, saying the network takes the matter seriously.
“When the inquiry is concluded, we will take appropriate action,” A&E spokesman Michael Feeney said in a statement Thursday.
The show, in its fifth season and one of A&E’s top-rated programs, has not been canceled.
An after-hours telephone message for David Perel, the Enquirer’s editor in chief, was not immediately returned. But earlier in the day, Perel declined to say how the tape was obtained, saying what mattered was what’s on the tape.
In the conversation, Chapman urges Tucker to break up with his girlfriend. He also expresses concern about the girlfriend trying to tape and go public about the TV star’s use of the N-word.
Chapman has said he was “disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character. However, I should have never used that term.” He also said he was ashamed of himself and pledged to make amends.
Hart said his client is not a racist and vowed never to use the word again.
“I have never seen anything that suggests he judges people by the color of their skin or racial background or anything but on their character,” he said. “Duane lost his composure and made very, very inappropriate remarks, for which he truly regrets.”
The TV series follows Chapman and his tattooed crew as they track down bail jumpers in Hawaii and other states. The show also stars some members of Chapman’s family, but Tucker Chapman is not regularly featured.
The Honolulu-based bounty hunter first grabbed headlines for apprehending serial rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Mexico in 2003.
Dog Chapman has been captured spewing foul-mouthed racist slurs on a tape obtained exclusively by The NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
And now a civil rights leader is calling for Dog’s TV show to be removed from the airwaves.
In a shocking world exclusive The ENQUIRER has obtained tapes of two revolting phone conversations in which Duane “Dog” Chapman unleashes a filthy bigoted attack, littered with the N-word and other disgusting racial insults.
The star of the A&E reality show Dog, The Bounty Hunter directed his racist hatred at his son Tucker’s girlfriend Monique Shinnery, who is black.
“Dog Chapman should not have a show. That show should be taken off the air!”
That’s the opinion of prominent civil rights leader Roy Innis, who has served as the chairman of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) since 1968. Innis was shocked and outraged when The ENQUIRER played Dog Chapman’s racist telephone conversations for him.
“This man should not be held up as a role model for children,” Innis told The ENQUIRER. “He has venom deep in his soul. This is a picture of his heart — a revelation of his true nature.
Innis believes that cable network A&E needs to take swift action in response to Dog’s vicious outburst.
“He needs to answer for his behavior,” says Innis.
“When someone gets the opportunity to use the airwaves, he becomes a role model, whether he likes it or not. Dog Chapman should not be in that position, posing as a good guy.
“His comments show that he certainly is not a good guy.”
Update: In response to this story, A&E network has released a statement saying: “A&E has just learned of the story released by the National Enquirer concerning Duane Dog Chapman. We take this matter very seriously. Pending an investigation, we have suspended production on the series. When the inquiry is concluded we will take appropriate action.”
Click here to listen to the audio tape.
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The Dog remains unleashed – for now. Attorneys for TV reality star Duane “Dog” Chapman on Friday said the Mexican federal court has granted them an order that halts the criminal case against Chapman until further evidence and witness testimony are gathered.
U.S. Marshals arrested Chapman here on Sept. 14 along with his son Leland and another associate after Mexico issued a warrant because of his capture of fugitive convicted rapist Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta. Bounty hunting is considered a crime in Mexico.
Chapman was released on $300,000 bail after spending a night in a federal detention center. He and his crew have been facing extradition to Mexico since then.
At a circus-like news conference Friday, the star of the popular A&E show “Dog the Bounty Hunter” said the “tide is changing a little bit.” His side of the story, he said, is finally being told to the court through his lawyer, William Boller, who spent the past month in Mexico.
“If it comes out right, would I do it again? You damn right,” Chapman said.
The possible extradition has ignited an uproar among members of Congress and Chapman’s fans, who consider him a hero for capturing a rapist and doing a job the government could not. Twenty-nine congressmen have sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to deny the extradition.
At the press conference, Chapman said Mexico is becoming a safe haven for American fugitives and killers.
“These guys know where to run. Where can we go so the Dog can’t catch us?” said Chapman, wearing a powder-blue dress shirt with rolled-up sleeves, black jeans, cowboy boots, a big silver bulldog belt buckle, a Rolex watch and mirrored Oakley sunglasses. He was not wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet that a judge agreed this week to remove.
After the press conference, Chapman, 53, spoke with The Associated Press and reflected on his legal and personal challenges since his arrest.
“I’m too old to be traumatized, but it’s right next to that. It’s just incredible,” he said.
The man who considers himself the best bounty hunter in the world said he still has nightmares about federal marshals banging down his door as well as the night he spent locked up.
“Jails are truly man-made hells,” he said.
Chapman believed he was working within Mexican laws by having a local police officer supervising the hunt for Luster. Chapman said also that he left Mexico in 2003 and didn’t return for a scheduled court hearing based on the advice of an attorney there.
After he left, Chapman said Friday, he was threatened by the attorney with additional legal problems in Mexico if he didn’t wire him “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Chapman’s capture of Luster, who had fled the United States during his trial on charges he raped three women, catapulted the bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E, the network’s highest-rated series ever. Luster is serving a 124-year prison term
