Video backs sheriff on bounty hunter complaint

[July 29, 2011]  GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) -- Surveillance videos in the Grand Junction, Colo., lobby of the sheriff's department show people having coughing fits after a pepper-sprayed fugitive was delivered by Duane "Dog" Chapman.

The videos back up claims by the Mesa County sheriff that the star of the A&E show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" excessively pepper-sprayed the fugitive during a scuffle on July 20 and then took him in without decontaminating him.

The videos were released Wednesday after The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel requested them under the Colorado Open Records Act.

Chapman and his wife said they didn't understand why the sheriff was upset because the suspect, Andrew Distel, was cleaned and fed.

Distel was wanted on warrants for failure to appear in two felony cases involving possession of methamphetamine.

___

Information from: The Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.