COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man accused of shooting at bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman and another man.
El Paso County Assistant DA Dan Zook said Thursday an attempted-murder charge was dropped because of conflicting witness statements and because the evidence was weak.
Chapman and bail bondsman Bobby Brown told Colorado Springs police they were fired on while chasing 35-year-old Hoang Nguyen (hwong win) last month after Nguyen missed a court date on a domestic violence charge.
The pursuit was being videotaped for A&E’s “Dog the Bounty Hunter” reality TV show. Chapman and Brown say they weren’t injured.
Zook says Brown, Chapman and Chapman’s son Leland gave conflicting accounts about whether they saw a gun and how far away the alleged shooter was.
Zook also says police found no bullet hole, bullet or shell casing and that Chapman didn’t respond to several requests for videotapes of the incident.
Chapman says he’s satisfied with the outcome.
“It’s my job to find ’em and fix ’em—not put more charges on a fugitive,” he said in a statement released by a publicist. “That’s not my style. Nguyen apologized to me when I captured him, and I’m cool with that.”
Nguyen’s public defender, Bill Schoewe, says he plans to ask the judge to order prosecutors to file false-reporting charges over the incident and advised Nguyen to file a civil suit.
Brown told The Gazette of Colorado Springs that police skipped key investigative steps such as swabbing Nguyen for gunpowder. Brown accused a police spokesman of suggesting that Chapman and Brown were hunting for publicity when in fact they track down suspects wanted by police.
“That’s (expletive) to put in there that we do this for ratings,” he said. “I mean, we’re doing their job, and he was just totally, totally out of line by his comment.”
