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What Rights Do Bouty Hunters Have When Looking For 'Skips?'
POSTED: 5:39 pm CST November 21, 2005
UPDATED: 6:19 pm CST November 21, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Bounty hunters are hired by bail bonds companies to track down people who skip out on their jail bonds, but the tactics they use are raising questions after a Sunday night raid in Birmingham.
The raid left neighbors and one family questioning the amount of force involved.
Erieck King and his cousins were at home when a knock on the door became a frightening situation.
Bounty hunters, including a man wearing a mask, were looking for one of King's relatives who had skipped out on his bond.
"He said if you don't come out I'm going to send somebody in. We (are) going to shoot," King said. "So I went to the door. He got my cousin by the shirt, holding a pistol telling us to come out right now and telling us to shut up and all that."
Deana Sudana, a Birmingham resident, wants an explanation of the rights bounty hunters have to use such force.
"To put guns to their head, with them laying on the floor, that is unacceptable, " Sudana said. "Something needs to be done about that."
NBC-13 reporter Scott Mauldin was able to find some answers -- specifically that bail bond companies have legal and contractual rights to collect when one of their clients skips out on bail.
Birmingham Police Chief Annetta Nunn said her department receives occasional complaints about bail bonds collectors, but they are usually within their legal rights to use force.
Bond companies are licensed to offer bail agreements. Their contract with a client allows for collection of the money or the person.
The law allows for a bondsman to privately enforce that contract.
Police said when someone skips out on bond, they put their friends and relatives at risk to bounty hunter raids.
"I will say that anybody who is signing for a person, make sure that person is trustworthy and is not going to try to try to skip out on that bond. Because, the persons are interested in collecting their money or getting that person, " said Nunn.
Those who use a bail bond company are bonded by contract to show up in court or their collectors can come looking for them.
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