Dog the Bounty Hunter dodges a bullet to get Springs fugitive

Dog the Bounty Hunter reportedly encountered gunfire while chasing down a bail jumper in Colorado Springs on Tuesday night while cameras were rolling for his TV show.

Television personality Duane "Dog" Chapman and frequent sidekick Bobby Brown of Colorado Springs told police they were uninjured and managed to get their man six hours later, racking up another headline for their clip file.

"You prepare for the worst but when it happens, there's just no preparation," said Brown, the owner of Bobby Brown Bail Bonds and a longtime friend of Chapman.

The pair and their entourage had been seeking Hoang Nguyen, one of Brown's clients, as part of Chapman's reality television series on the A&E network.

"The cameras were behind me and they catch it all," Brown said. "I would hazard to guess that 99.999 (percent), it's on tape."

Nguyen, 35, missed a court date Feb. 9 in Colorado Springs on a domestic violence charge, skipping out on the $12,000 bond Brown had paid on his behalf.

After searching for leads at Vietnamese businesses and restaurants all day, the crew received a tip that Nguyen could be found at his new apartment, at the Galley Apartments at 3617 E. Uintah Ave. in east Colorado Springs, Brown said.

They spotted Nguyen in the parking lot upon arriving, and when Nguyen realized he'd been found, the fugitive turned and fired a single shot from a handgun, Brown said. He raced away on what Brown described as a "red crotch rocket."

"We were blessed because the Colorado Springs Police Department showed up with a great deal of force," he said. "They really helped with crowd control and taking reports and getting the whole situation under control."

Some of the bounty hunters on the crew, Chapman included, were armed with guns that shoot pepper spray pellets and fired at Nguyen as he sped away, Brown said.  They finally caught up with the suspect at 1:30 a.m. in an alley near the apartments, where according to Brown, the man was caught after another chase.

Police investigating the shooting found no shell casings or bullet holes, said Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock.  Police were pursuing attempted murder charges on the basis of witness accounts alone, he said.

Nguyen, who is being held on a $25,000 bond, was advised of the pending charges in court Wednesday. His next court date was set for April 30. 

Chapman, a Colorado native, last drew headlines in Colorado Springs in 2005 at the Aztec Motel on Platte Avenue, where he and Brown were searching for a fugitive. His son, Leland Chapman, was accused of assaulting the motel owner during a brawl in the parking lot.

Whitlock said Chapman's appearances in Colorado Springs have a way of going awry.

"Clearly, when Mr. Chapman and his group come to town, we seem to find a way to involve law enforcement in a way that isn't productive to community service," he said.

Chapman and his television crew are expected to continue filming in Colorado Springs over the next several weeks, Brown said. He did not know when the television show would air an episode based on Tuesday's confrontation.

Gazette reporter John Ensslin contributed to this story.