MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - On January 2nd Martin Tong, a 20-year-old Sudanese, was shot three times at his Kansas City home by two bounty hunters who mistook him for a bail fugitive.
The bounty hunters were searching for an entirely different person who - six months earlier - had lived in the apartment that Tong subsequently leased.
"Those people didn't identify themselves and they didn't look like policemen. I closed the door, but they kicked it down and pulled their guns at me", Tong said.
Tong said he suffered only minor injuries with gunshot wounds to his hand, ear and foot.
The bounty hunters were operating under the only written law that currently regulates bounty hunting - an 1872 U.S. Supreme Court decision which gives bounty hunters power to pursue bail violators in any state and use "reasonable" force to seize the violators.
It's stories like that of Martin Tong that has promoted a few Missouri lawmakers to propose legislation to regulate bounty hunters.
"We just want to set some regulation so that you don't have a situation in which just anybody without liability or any responsability can do damage to another person by mistake of identification", said Sen. Phil Curls, D-Kansas City and sponsor of a bill to regulate bounty hunters.
Many bonding companies are not liable for any damages caused by their bounty hunters because they hire the bounty hunters as independent contractors, instead of employees.
Jackson County Prosecutor Claire McCaskill waid one purpose of the bounnty-hunter bill is to make the bonding companies liability so that they are more careful about whom they employ.
"If the bonding companies are liable for the activities of the individuals they hire, we will clean up 99 percent of this overnight," McCaskill said.
The proposal has several other provisions:
* It would prohibit bounty hunters from using force for misdeneours. "There's going to be no more kicking doors down, handcuffing or pulling guns for traffic violations," McCaskill said.
* A person would have to be licensed by the state to practice as a bounty hunter in Missouri. Firearm training and a background check would be required for a license.
* A bounty hunter would be required to post a $1 million bond to cover damages. "We need to make sure that the people on the other side of the force are protected if the bounty hunters make a mistake", McCaskill said.
* Local police would have to be advised by a bounty hunter before apprehension could be undertaken.
Zeledee Collins, a Kansas City target for a bounty hunter's efforts, said the bill would be a step forward into regulating the activities of individuals who are out of control.
"We need bail bondsmen, but we don't need these agressive guys who assault and manhunt innocent people," Collins said.
Collins said he was overpowered by two bounty hunters who showed up in his house on September 22, 1995 looking for a bail fugitive.
Although he showed them his driving license, the bounty hunters pushed him aside and pursued to search inside the house, terrorizing his family and causing damage to his property.
Collins complains he has not gotten any response from the bonding company concerning his request for compensation for the damaged property. "We need some kind of regulation, these people need to be made liable for their damages."
But not every lawmaker supports how far the proposal would go in bringing bounty hunters under state law.
Rep. Don Koller, D-Summersville, questions the $1 million bond a bounty hunter would be required to post. "I'm afraid not too many bounty hunters can afford that amount of money, and we need bounty hunters in Missouri," Koller said.
Other legislators argue the bill still leaves bounty hunters with more power than policee can exercise.
Rep. David Reynolds, D-St. Louis County. says he's worried the bill permits bounty hunters to use deadly force for felonies. "Not only they can seize someone in their home without a warrant, but they can also pull a gun if they deem it is neccessary," Reynolds said.
But McCaskill, the Jackson County prosecutor who supports the bill, said bounty hunters have no greater right to use deadly force than any Missourian to protect oneself.
Some bail compaines also are not excited about the bill.
At a hearing conducted in January, Cody Ice, president of one of Missouri's biggest bail and bond companies and former recovery agent, voiced his opposition to some of the provisions.
Ice said his organization did not object to licensing standards, but complained about bounty hunters being required to go through firearm training when they can't carry conceiled weapons. "So, what is all the training for if we can't carry the guns legally? Ice asked.
Ice said that in the 35 years he performed as a bounty hunter, he had to seize suspects illegally beecause he often used weapons he was not legally allowed to use. ~~"The bounty hunters have been working illegally since the beginning of the history of this country."
Ice also voiced objects to the requirement that bounty hunters to check in with the local enforcement agencies prior to the apprehention of the suspects.
"The bounty hunters should check in with the authorities after capturing the bail violators, but not before, because the deputy sheriff may be acquainted to the suspects and then chances are that you won't seize them because they will have been informed of your presence," Ice said.