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SAN FRANCISCO


'Dog' reality show goes after wrong man, real lawsuit follows


Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, August 17, 2006



The brawny, long-haired, leather-clad ex-con with a soft side -- known to reality television fans as "Dog the Bounty Hunter" -- swept into a Daly City park last year with cameras rolling and city police officers in tow.

Duane Chapman and his Hawaii-based "posse" of family members, who star in A&E's most popular series, were after an elusive bail-skipper who had played for the Daly City Renegades semipro football team.

What happened next is the subject of an unusual civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Chapman's son tried to grab and restrain one of the players, but it wasn't the fugitive -- who wasn't even at the team practice on May 24, 2005. It was Daly City nightclub promoter Simaile "Cisco" Lutu, 29, whose mood quickly soured.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the 6-foot-5 Lutu said on film, easily pushing away Leland Chapman, who is much smaller. Lutu added, "Y'all about to see Dog f -- up."

The elder Chapman conceded that Lutu wasn't his fugitive from Hawaii, a 6-foot-tall suspected drug dealer named Samu Savea, and left, saying, "Be safe."

But the very next day, Daly City police, who were still working with Chapman to apprehend Savea, handcuffed Lutu and held him at gunpoint at a health club, the lawsuit says.

A day after that, Lutu was working at a Burlingame nightclub when he was cuffed and held at the point of a shotgun by officers from that city, the suit says.

While neither of those incidents was aired, the encounter at the Daly City practice field was featured on this year's season premiere -- even though Lutu refused to sign a release for the use of his image, the lawsuit says.

"This is reality TV run amok," said Lutu's attorney, Jim Hammer, a former San Francisco prosecutor and television legal commentator. "There's got to be a bright line between television entertainment on one hand and real police work on the other.

"When people intimidate and harass other people just to make money, it's outrageous," Hammer added. "We suspect this has been going on for quite some time and we intend to find out how often."

Chapman, 53, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he was surprised by the lawsuit, which seeks damages from him, his bail bond outfit, the network and police officers.

"Cisco called me right after the show and said, 'Thanks Dog, all the girls love me now,'" Chapman said. "Brother, I haven't heard anything that he's upset."

Chapman said he was not present when Lutu was allegedly detained by police at the gym and the nightclub. And he said he was not involved in the decision to air the park scene.

"All I do is bounty hunt," he said.

His wife, Beth Chapman, questioned Lutu's motives and suggested that he was not an innocent party during the hunt for Savea. "Today, he decides he's mad?" she asked. "When should you be mad, brother? I see that as opportunistic."

A second plaintiff, whom Chapman questioned about Savea on camera in South San Francisco, claims his appearance on the episode damaged his reputation.

Dan Silberman, a spokesman for A&E, said the network would not comment on pending litigation. The city attorneys for Daly City and Burlingame said they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it until they had reviewed it.

Jody Armour, a law professor at the University of Southern California, said such reality shows are "fraught with risk." Producers ask people like Lutu to sign releases, Armour said, to avoid the possibility of a civil suit.

Armour said Lutu may be able to prove his reputation was damaged solely by his on-air link to a fugitive. He added that police who participate in such shows face "perverse incentives."

"They have to think not only about the task at hand," he said, "but looking good on camera."

Episodes of the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" reality television show attract more than 2 million viewers who follow Chapman and his crew, which includes his wife and two of his sons, as they try to track down absconders whose release from jail they had underwritten.

Chapman, who once served two years in a Texas penitentiary for being an accessory to murder, gained fame in 2003 for capturing convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster.

He starts manhunts by praying with his crew in a circle and telling them to "strap up" with weaponry and protective gear; once captured, suspects are subject to Chapman's heart-to-heart lectures about staying straight.

Bay Area police officers are often in the background of scenes during the episode featuring Lutu. As Chapman explained on the episode, he cannot legally apprehend bail jumpers without police on hand.

On the show, Chapman first flew to the Bay Area after getting a tip that Savea played for the Renegades. He called the suspect, who had eluded him for three years, "the thorn in my flesh."

He appeared to catch Savea in Pacifica after a few days, but in fact, the lawsuit states, he returned to California to make the capture two months later.

When handcuffed on camera, Savea seemed surprised by all the attention. "It's not like I shot somebody," he said.

Nearby, Beth Chapman broke into tears.

"Call the judge," she shouted into a cell phone.

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