Lawsuit targets TV's bounty hunter

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado Springs motel owner is suing the stars of the television show "Dog the Bounty Hunter," claiming that they assaulted him during filming and that the episode has hurt his reputation and business.

Roy Barnes, owner of the Aztec Motel, wants an unspecified amount in damages and for cable network A&E to stop running the episode. He claims in the suit that he receives hate mail and phone calls every time it airs, and that it has made him unable to sell the motel.

The show follows the exploits of Duane "Dog" Chapman, 53, a longtime Colorado bounty hunter now based in Hawaii, and his family.

The bounty hunters could not be reached for comment. Duane and his son Leland Chapman were arrested Thursday in Hawaii and were awaiting extradition to Mexico to face charges related to the capture of a fugitive there in 2003.

They were in Colorado Springs in June 2005, looking for a bail jumper wanted on traffic and other warrants. After being told he was at the Aztec, they went there, could not find him and got in a confrontation with Barnes, who ordered them to leave the property.

A fight erupted, police were called and Barnes, who had several cuts on his face and head, swelling under his right eye and fractured ribs, twice changed his mind about filing charges, according to police reports.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office later dropped the charge against Leland Chapman after being shown a tape of the incident, though the film crew initially refused to show one to police.

Barnes' lawsuit claims that the bounty hunters intentionally caused a confrontation and that it is a regular procedure on the show for Duane Chapman's wife, Beth, to provoke people to violence.

"They came out here to make a TV show and if they could get some innocent person to beat up for national TV, that was just frosting on the cake," his attorney, Lloyd Kordick, said Thursday. "The guy wasn't there. They should have left when they were directed to by the owner of the property."

Kordick said neither the bounty hunters nor the camera crew got Barnes' consent to use his image in the program, and the episode has plagued him since.

Bobby Brown, a local bail bondsman who invited the bounty hunters to Colorado Springs, also is named in the lawsuit. He said they had a legitimate reason to think fugitive Harry Whaley was at the Aztec.

"We were right on his trail the entire time. Nobody said, 'Let's go agitate the guy at the Aztec,' " Brown said.

Neither Barnes nor a spokesman for A&E returned messages for comment.