Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Larry King Live
Minnesota Families Talk about Bridge Collapse; Mexican Charges against 'Dog' Dropped
Aired August 03, 2007 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight exclusive, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," who just got the news that he's no longer the hunted. Now his first TV interview since Mexico dropped charges that could have put him behind bars.
His wife Beth is here too, and she'll reveal secrets of spending nearly two decades with America's most famous bounty hunter
But first, a city's disaster, a family's heartbreak. Sherry Engebretsen's husband and daughters, their first primetime interview since learning she died in the Minneapolis bridge collapse.
Plus, the hero who was inside that packed school bus when the bridge collapsed beneath it. He will tell us how he helped save 52 young lives. He's here with some of the kids he helped rescue all next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Good evening. TV's bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman will join us in a bit. There you see him and the missus in the green room. But first we go to Minneapolis, and joining us in Shoreview, Minnesota is Ronald Engebretsen. His wife Sherry has been identified as one of the people killed in the Minneapolis bridge collapse. With him are their two adopted daughters, Jessica and Anne.
Ronald, how did you learn that Sherry had passed away?
RONALD ENGEBRETSEN, HUSBAND OF SHERRY ENGBRETSEN: Well, we had learned that Wednesday evening, when Sherry didn't come home. We started the process of trying to identify that maybe Sherry was caught in traffic.
We heard the bridge was down and we started doing the process of accumulating and assembling family members. They set up a command post in the Holiday Inn in downtown Minneapolis and we then quickly, my brother and his wife, went down to represent me while we stayed back here at our home and tried to keep everybody calm and present the faith that Sherry was OK, just caught in traffic.
But as time went on and it got into the Thursday process, we knew that things maybe weren't headed in the right direction and then we found out Thursday afternoon that they identified a possible body that represents possibly my wife and the mother of our children. And we went from there to the dental identification records and a positive identification.
KING: Had you spoken to her that day? R. ENGEBRETSEN: Yes, I had. I had spoken to her about 4:30, quarter to 5:00 that night. I was just about to leave my office for the day, the end of my work day. Sherry had just come out of a meeting and we had talked about her day. And she had a little rough day in the meeting. But it was still a good day, and she was ready to come home, and then she -- I left and I went home and started dinner for the family.
KING: Jessica, how are you dealing with this?
JESSICA ENGEBRETSEN, DAUGHTER OF SHERRY ENGEBRETSEN: It's very hard. I can't sleep, just constantly on my mind. I was the last one to talk to her two nights ago, and I was outside with the dog. She had called -- she always calls before she comes home just to let us know where she is. She told me that she's leaving now and she will be home soon.
KING: Anne, do you have trouble accepting this?
ANNE ENGEBRETSEN, DAUGHTER OF SHERRY ENGEBRETSEN: I just have to take it minute by minute and definitely just a shock. It's hard to accept, but we're going to get through it together, all of us together.
KING: How do you deal with it, Ron? Are you someone of faith?
R. ENGEBRETSEN: Yes, we are. We are very devout Christians. We're Lutherans by our faith. We believe very highly in our God, our eternal God. Sherry knows that she's a child of God, saved by God and saved by God's grace. And we hang on to the hope and we know that Sherry is home with her eternal father today.
And we're certainly going to miss her. I mean, she has been a great partner for 32 years. We've had many experiences together, many positive experiences. When people ask me who is Sherry Engebretsen, what does she represent?
She represents a wife, a mother, a very committed spouse, very committed to her children, committed to her community, committed to the things that she represents. And what you see here today is -- on two sides of me is Sherry Engebretsen. She lives through our daughters.
KING: As President John F. Kennedy once said, life isn't fair. Our condolences. Carry on, Engebretsens. We'll be in touch.
R. ENGEBRETSEN: Thank you.
KING: Let's go to Minneapolis -- thank you all. Let's meet Jeremy Hernandez, one of the heroes of the Minneapolis bridge collapse. He got scores of youngsters safely off a school bus caught in Wednesday's disaster. Imahni Taylor is there. So is Tyrone Mattson, Tyrone Mattson Jr. and his wife Erica (ph) Taylor. Also on the line and on the bus were Canaan (ph) Mattson, Creole (ph) Taylor, Isaiah (ph) Mattson, And Jazzy (ph) Taylor, who was there but was not on the bus. All right. Jeremy, where were you, how did you happen upon the scene?
JEREMY HERNANDEZ, SURVIVED BRIDGE COLLAPSE IN SCHOOL BUS: I was sitting on the back of the bus, like the third seat to the back -- from the back.
KING: And what's the first thing that happened to your recollection?
HERNANDEZ: I remember a semi going on the side of us honking, and then one of the kids were pulling at it like he was pulling at a chain and then that's when we all looked at the river, and then we heard the big bang, and the bus started going down, and it felt like my stomach was in my chest and then it went down again and then it felt like my stomach was in my chest and then it stopped.
And then there was just dust in the air and you could hear the kids moaning and crying, and then the dust settled, and then they all started screaming, we're all going to die, we're all going to die. And that's when I looked out the back window and I seen the river and then the cement, and then I looked back and seen the bridge was gone.
And then my heart was beating fast. And that's when I proceeded to go over the back seats to the back door, and I opened the back door, kicked the coolers out, and I jumped out, and when I turned around, the kids were coming out after me, and I was handing them down from the bus on to the bridge.
And then I felt the bridge shaking. Then I looked back and I seen all the kids still there, and I told them we are going to have to get off the bridge. We have to get off the bridge. And then a pedestrian or a guy that was -- had a truck on the bridge, actually was like -- you can hand the kids down to me, hand them down to me.
So I then proceeded to hand the kids down to him. And when all the kids that were right there in the crowd were done, I went back to the bus and was grabbing more kids off of the bus, and that's when they yelled somebody's -- say it again?
KING: You're only 20 years old, right? You're a counselor.
HERNANDEZ: Correct.
KING: Boy oh boy. Imahni Taylor, what do you remember?
IMAHNI TAYLOR, SURVIVED BRIDGE COLLAPSE IN SCHOOL BUS: I remember looking out the window and just having a great time with the kids. And then I remember hitting a bump on the freeway and thinking that was a pretty big bump for a freeway. And then remembering falling and it felt like I was on the Power Tower where, like Jeremy said, my stomach went to my chest and my heart was beating really fast and I didn't know what was happening.
And when the bus dropped, three times, the last time I didn't know what to do. I was still in shock. And then I seen Jeremy get out, kick the back door open and then that's when I knew we had to get off the bridge and that we were in trouble.
KING: Boy -- and Tyrone, was Jeremy a hero to you?
TYRONE MATTSON SR., FATHER OF TYRONE MATTSON JR.: Are you referring to me or my son?
KING: To your son.
TYRONE MATTSON JR., SURVIVED BRIDGE COLLAPSE IN SCHOOL BUS: Yes, I think he's a hero.
KING: Jeremy, how do you feel? Action under pressure, how do you feel?
HERNANDEZ: I feel good for what I did. I just -- I think it was more adrenaline than anything because I was in fear of my life, too, so that's what made me kick into action and get moving quick.
KING: Well, you have our congratulations. You ought to be very proud, Jeremy. We salute you and all the kids.
HERNANDEZ: Thank you.
KING: Thank you. Up next, one of the Mattson kid's heroes, Duane the "Dog" Chapman, former criminal turned full-time bounty hunter turned TV star and now author. Could he be back on his way to jail in Mexico? Right now he's on his way right here to the studio, right here to answer that question and more. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, "DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER": You got a warrant for you arrest. You know why you wife-beating bastard. You hit the girl so hard she had a convulsion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? I do not have a gun.
D. CHAPMAN: But you told her you did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I did.
D. CHAPMAN: Why, though? You think that's what you can do is scare her into loving you?
Twenty-three years, my brother. That's the first time we ever arrested another Chapman.
Now tell me what you're going to remember about this day for the rest of your life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should have just listened to my mommy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. And welcome back to the program Duane "Dog" Chapman, star of the top-rated A&E reality show "Dog the Bounty Hunter," now in its fourth season. With him is his wife Beth, a return visit with her. She appears with him on that program. They own and operate Da Kine Bail Bonds in Hawaii. Joining us in this first segment is Jim Quadra, their attorney. And they are the author of a new book -- Duane is the author of a new book "You Can Run But You Can't Hide," appropriately titled. There you see its cover.
And the good news for Duane and the gang is that the first criminal court in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, has dismissed the charges on grounds the statute of limitations had run.
You were charged with what, Duane?
D. CHAPMAN: I was charged with the minor crime of deprivation of liberty.
KING: By doing what?
D. CHAPMAN: By -- well, it was all alleged, so...
KING: What did they allege?
D. CHAPMAN: They alleged that we...
BETH CHAPMAN, WIFE OF DUANE CHAPMAN: Grabbed Andrew Luster.
D. CHAPMAN: Grabbed Andrew Luster. Andrew Luster was a...
KING: Famed fugitive.
D. CHAPMAN: Was a fugitive, correct.
KING: And he was in Mexico.
D. CHAPMAN: Eight-six counts of rape, yes, sir.
KING: Where is he now, by the way?
D. CHAPMAN: He's now serving a sentence in your California prisons. He has got 119 years left.
B. CHAPMAN: Soledad.
KING: Jim, everything OK now, done deal?
JIM QUADRA, ATTORNEY FOR DUANE CHAPMAN: Well, the status is that we obtained an order in Puerto Vallarta that found that all charges should be dismissed because the statute of limitations had run. That's -- we have to give credit to our Mexican team that's Eduardo Morena (ph) and Alberto Sincere (ph) down there.
And they did a great job. The trial court that issued the original warrant found that the statute of limitations had run. Now the warrant is void, and that's the basis for the extradition request.
So that in our mind is void as well. It has been appealed, which is an automatic thing in Mexico, and we are confident that the merits of the argument will be looked at properly by both the D.A. and the appellate court and that we'll succeed.
KING: And the prosecution's basis for the appeal is?
QUADRA: Well, we haven't seen the actual papers. What they have filed is sort of an automatic response which is a request for an appeal.
KING: That's done automatically.
QUADRA: Automatically.
KING: Are you confident that it's over?
QUADRA: Well, we are confident that the merits we've put before the court are proper and if the court looks at it we're confident it should go our way.
KING: Beth, is it over and done with, in your opinion?
B. CHAPMAN: Yes, definitely it's over.
KING: Why...
(CROSSTALK)
B. CHAPMAN: I couldn't be happier. This has just been such a horrendous thing for the last four years. But it's over, it's over.
KING: He was such a notorious fugitive. Why did Mexico make such a big deal of this?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, you know, I think that anybody would have made a big deal until they heard the real story, you know?. And we left and didn't get a chance to tell the real story. Now that the story has been told, Larry, you asked me last time, you said, you know there is honesty and there is justice in this world, including Mexico. And you're right. And I told Beth last night I've got three words to say, Beth, viva la Mexico.
KING: Right. They were right to look into it, correct?
QUADRA: Absolutely, but like anybody has a right to look into it and we had the right to present the evidence before them, in particular the facts of the case, but more importantly also procedurally to make sure that the statute of limitations was appropriately looked at.
KING: We have an e-mail question dealing with it from Amy in Audubon, New Jersey. "What do you think about the United States government's handling of the case? Did it help at all with your legal situation?" You want to answer, Jim?
(CROSSTALK)
QUADRA: Well, the United States government responded to an extradition request by Mexico and it's pursuant to a bilateral treaty. How they handled it, that might be a different issue.
KING: Did they extradite him?
QUADRA: No, they have not extradited them. Nor have they...
KING: They don't have to now.
QUADRA: Well, they don't have to and actually it has never been found by any court in the United States that Duane and Leland and Tim were subject to extradition. That has never been decided.
KING: Were you unhappy with the government's handling of it?
QUADRA: Well, I think that we haven't -- when you...
KING: Beth was.
QUADRA: Well, the legal issue hasn't yet been decided. There are other issues as to how they were arrested, what happened that I think both of them can speak to.
KING: Before we take a break and you leave us, Jim, what kind of client are they?
QUADRA: Great.
KING: Yes, they are?
QUADRA: They are a pleasure to work with.
KING: He's not tough...
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you.
KING: ... the Dog?
QUADRA: Oh no, they are tough. That's why they are a pleasure to work with.
D. CHAPMAN: You notice he say "they." He said, he's not tough, it's they.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Thousands of you e-mailed questions to Duane the "Dog" Chapman. We've got more of those ahead. And as we go to break, a little questions to see how well you know Dog.
What was Duane "Dog" Chapman's profession before he was a bounty hunter? A, used car salesman; B, vacuum cleaner salesman; C, insurance salesman. It's a new deal here on LARRY KING LIVE. We ask Q&As with the audience. The answer when we come back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: Get her, boys! Get her, get her, Youngblood (ph)!
B. CHAPMAN: Yee ha! Woo-hoo!
D. CHAPMAN: Now! Get the (expletive deleted) down, now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm on the (expletive deleted) ground, man.
D. CHAPMAN: What's your name? What's your name? What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ginger.
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you, Ginger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: OK. So what was Duane "Dog" Chapman's profession before he was a bounty hunter? The answer is B, vacuum cleaner salesman, and he has got a soft spot for the machines. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: Keeps spitting back out the dirt. I used to sell Kirbys until I was way in my adulthood. My father repaired all different kinds of vacuums.
B. CHAPMAN: Stop it.
D. CHAPMAN: It's fun to fix a vacuum and make it work and watch it pick up the dirt. It sounds stupid, but I like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Dog, when were you on the wrong side of the law, what were you doing?
D. CHAPMAN: I wasn't vacuuming.
KING: No. What were you doing?
D. CHAPMAN: I was in a motorcycle club so I was doing motorcycle gang member stuff.
B. CHAPMAN: Behavior.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes.
KING: Arrested? D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir, many times I was arrested, correct.
KING: What changed you?
D. CHAPMAN: I think sitting in jail and realizing that the end of the criminal rainbow is not a bucket of gold but more like a six- by-six-foot cell and if I wanted to pick a career being an outlaw that this was the reward and I'm not built for that. I don't want to be in jail.
KING: So why bounty hunter?
D. CHAPMAN: I think I went completely subconsciously the most opposite that I could do when I got out of prison. I ran towards the badge, something completely different than what I had been. And the only -- where I could fit would be like the maverick lawman, this bounty hunter. That word just got me.
KING: How did you meet Beth?
D. CHAPMAN: I...
B. CHAPMAN: Shh.
D. CHAPMAN: Go ahead, Beth.
KING: What do you mean, shh? Beth, how did you meet him?
B. CHAPMAN: This is embarrassing. He was my bondsman.
D. CHAPMAN: I posted bail for her for stealing two lemons and I noticed on her application that she was the secretary to a senator, and I thought, why would a secretary be stealing lemons and the story sounded -- where she was innocent, sounded good. So...
KING: A senator -- a United States senator?
D. CHAPMAN: No, a Colorado senate.
B. CHAPMAN: State, the majority leader of the senate.
KING: So he posted bond for you and you met that way.
B. CHAPMAN: Yes. He was bondman.
KING: So you were a bondsman as well as a...
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir.
B. CHAPMAN: And he kept threatening me that if I didn't come in and do my paperwork that he was going to have to come out and get me.
KING: What did you think of his profession?
B. CHAPMAN: I didn't think really much of it until I met him, and then when I saw him I was like, wow, you know, let the stalking begin. You will be mine. And so I actually got into the business then so that he would have to come and hang around my office and chase all that really bad bail that I would proceed to write, you know. So he was tricked.
KING: We have an e-mail question from Ruth from Derrida (ph), Louisiana. "Would you ever go after a fugitive in Mexico again?"
D. CHAPMAN: Well, we've been asking that. We've been asked that several times, and we have volunteers now from the Mexico government that said, Dog, if you come down here and when you come down here again, we're going with you. Now we've set it up that the Mexico government would be, of course, with us.
You know, I don't want these fugitives to think because, you know, Dog in Mexico, they can run there. I mean, a lot of guys you are noticing are running towards Mexico and always will. We need to stop that, so, yes, I would, with their help.
Now that we've -- you know, they know who Dog is now and I know who they are. So and they have the same goal that I have, get rid of the fugitives or bring them back to justice.
KING: "Law & Order" did an episode recently in which the bounty hunters were the villains. And they get away with it at the end, they were found not guilty. But they killed a guy.
D. CHAPMAN: Right. I saw that. Yes, sir.
KING: Is that a fair picture?
D. CHAPMAN: No, that was not a fair picture. In all businesses there's good guys and bad guys. In this profession it's not teaching Sunday school. So you draw a lot of bad guys. And -- but there's some good guys. I have lot of Marines that call, want to be a bounty hunter, a lot of ex-policemen that want to be a bounty hunter. So that in this site, in this kind of business you have the good and the bad.
B. CHAPMAN: Well, and you know, Dog has never carried a firearm ever.
D. CHAPMAN: No.
B. CHAPMAN: You know, so we've always been separate from other bounty hunters, other bail enforcement people, because we don't believe in that. We're not going to kill somebody for money...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: How is a bounty hunter paid?
D. CHAPMAN: You're paid, Larry, by the person you capture. They have a price on certain people's head and once you capture them, you get a body receipt. It's like a receipt you get for gas. You present that receipt to whose ever paying you, and they pay the courts.
B. CHAPMAN: The courts, the bondsman.
D. CHAPMAN: The courts, the government.
KING: So in other words, if I post a 10,000 bond and jump...
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir.
KING: ... and you get me...
D. CHAPMAN: Correct.
KING: ... what do you get for that?
D. CHAPMAN: Then I would usually get 15 percent of that, $1,500, because I'm saving whoever put up their house for you.
B. CHAPMAN: Plus expenses.
D. CHAPMAN: Plus expenses, Beth says.
KING: Plus expenses. It can be then very rewarding.
B. CHAPMAN: Yes.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes. Oh, you can make a living. I've fed a lot of children for almost 30 years now just bounty-hunting.
B. CHAPMAN: You know, he was catching four and five a day in the prime of his career. You know, about 10 or 15 years ago he was catching four or five a day, so it was a very lucrative business for us.
KING: How did the television thing start?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, we -- I've always had this feeling in my mind since I was young, you know, I've always wanted to be an entertainer. And as I was standing like many times in front of the cells, in front of the jails, I'd have the prisoner with me, and would I stand in line just like the visitors and people would walk up and say, how did you catch this guy?
Or, you know, the captain of the jail would ask me. And they always said, man, need to write a book or do a television show, this is fantastic. You mean, you just dialed once and hung up or you called Pizza Hut and the guy came out, or, I mean, you know, you've got to be innovative to catch some of these guys and pull a lot of tricks.
So you know, I had this goal in my mind that I wanted to have my family in entertainment, and I wanted people to see what we really did. And I wanted to clean up the idea of bounty hunting because it doesn't carry too -- a real great stigma with it.
And I wanted to show America that , yes, there are bounty hunters, but some can be good. B. CHAPMAN: Well, and you know, the other thing is, is that it's, for us to be taxpayers like we are, it's disturbing for us to watch that it takes weeks and weeks and weeks for someone to catch a fugitive because it doesn't.
It takes concentrated hard work. We knew that we had it in us, and so we did a guy here out of Sacramento, California, called Nikolai Soltys. He was a Russian guy who had killed his wife and his children.
And Dog got a lead on him and was going to apprehend him and the feds stopped him and said, we're going to take that bust, not you. And so after that happened, we took on Luster, and from that day forward we videotaped everything.
KING: This is "Paladin," "have gun, will travel."
B. CHAPMAN: No, we have no gun.
D. CHAPMAN: We use non-lethal...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Have no gun, will travel.
B. CHAPMAN: Have no gun, will travel.
D. CHAPMAN: But we use weapons. We have non-lethal weapons. Today they make weapons, as you know...
KING: Speaking of that, a little later Dog will do a demonstration of how he cuffs the criminals right here in our studio. As we go to break, more about our guest's checkered past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: (INAUDIBLE) I was a criminal. I was a sergeant of arms for a motorcycle gang. We robbed. We pillaged. We did everything. What that got me was a conviction on murder one that I never did. What else it got me is 18 months in Texas Department of Corrections. Let me tell you through experience, at the end of the criminal rainbow is not a bucket of gold. It's a six-by-six cell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER: I had all these sons and then I had this baby girl so we named her Barbara Kate. She went to Alaska to live with her mother. She had a baby. Yesterday afternoon she was killed in a car wreck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: Well, I don't know how you ever survive the loss of a child.
D. CHAPMAN: You don't, you just -- you don't.
KING: You just don't?
D. CHAPMAN: You just don't.
KING: She was gorgeous.
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you.
KING: How old was she?
BETH CHAPMAN, DUANE CHAPMAN'S WIFE: Twenty-three.
D. CHAPMAN: Twenty-three.
KING: Did you think of quitting work and chucking it and just sort of going out and watch the birds?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, I catch myself asking her for help in Mexico once in a while.
KING: Did you know her well, Beth?
B. CHAPMAN: Yes, very well. She's my daughter, yes. We loved her, Barbara Katie.
KING: Because I thought the clip said she went to live with her mother.
B. CHAPMAN: She did.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes. Beth is her step-mom.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: And when you say her mother...
D. CHAPMAN: Beth -- I've been with Beth 18 years so she knew Barbara since she was a baby.
KING: Now let's go on a lighter note. Dog tells a story in that new book "You Can Run But You Can't Hide," "Earlier today he went with a 'LARRY KING LIVE' crew to a book store where he's scheduled to do a signing tonight. Three female fans were already there." Watch what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Dog.
D. CHAPMAN: I like your shirts, ladies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew you would.
D. CHAPMAN: Aloha, how are you? Hi. Ma'am, hi, how are you? My sister, how are you? Why are you crying?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so nervous.
D. CHAPMAN: Oh come here, that's all right. Don't be nervous. Listen, I cry all the time, too. That's why I wear the glasses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: They love you, Dog.
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you, I love them too.
KING: We have an e-mail from Leanne from Pompano Beach, Florida. "How does somebody go about becoming a bounty hunter?"
B. CHAPMAN: Well, Florida has got really tough laws but you would go to the state's Division of Insurance, regulatory agencies, and I think they would have a packet for them that they could go through.
KING: It's hard?
B. CHAPMAN: It's hard.
D. CHAPMAN: It's like asking a question how do you become a cowboy.
B. CHAPMAN: Right.
D. CHAPMAN: You know it's -- I'll tell you later.
KING: Is it licensed?
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir. It's regulated now in 30 some states, absolutely.
B. CHAPMAN: Heavily regulated.
D. CHAPMAN: Correct.
KING: There's still those -- there is a kind of concept among some people that don't like the idea of a bounty hunter.
B. CHAPMAN: Yes.
KING: When you're gone, you're a mercenary and you're going out to apprehend someone to make a profit off their dilemma.
D. CHAPMAN: Right. Well, but see now, I personally have apprehended almost 7,000. And Abraham Lincoln is one of the presidents that passed the Taylor versus Tanter Law that put bounty hunters in effect. And citizens have the right to apprehend or deceive. When citizens get involved, Larry, in their community, not just the cops, that's when crime goes down.
B. CHAPMAN: Right.
D. CHAPMAN: So I agree. There's a vigilante who goes out and arrests the guy and punishes them. We don't do the punishing part. We do the arrests. But I think if more people got into their neighborhoods and their country, what's going on, crime would hit, you know, low numbers. And that's what we're doing to do is show people you don't have to go out there with a gun and arrest them and shoot everybody. Everybody is not bound for hell. A lot of people just make mistakes but America has got to wake up and take, you know, control of your own neighborhood even.
KING: There are such things then as citizen arrests? A citizen can make an arrest.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, in America and in Mexico, you're responsible -- if you and I see a felony being committed, as I've seen on your newscast with that elderly gentleman that was beat the other day, and you yourself commented why weren't those guys charged that just stood around and watched. So yes, you can even be charged in America if you don't, say, jump in.
KING: We have a King Cam question on board. This is where we send our cameras out, grab people on the street, literally grab them...
D. CHAPMAN: OK.
KING: ...and say, "Ask a question" and here's one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Dog. My name is Paula from Ukiah (ph) and I'm really curious. How long does it take you to do your hair in the morning?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: You got me. Did you know she was going to ask me that? It takes me about ten minutes. It's good trained hair.
KING: What do you deny that?
B. CHAPMAN: Yes. I emphatically deny that.
KING: How long does it take?
B. CHAPMAN: A long time.
D. CHAPMAN: How long is a long time?
B. CHAPMAN: Like an hour and a half.
D. CHAPMAN: Oh, stop it! An hour and a half, you swear to God?
B. CHAPMAN: I do swear to God.
D. CHAPMAN: You're lying on television...
KING: Why...
D. CHAPMAN: ...on LARRY KING's live show.
KING: Why do you wear your hair like that though?
D. CHAPMAN: I don't know. I just -- it won't go -- it won't do anything else. It's just my style.
KING: Are you surprised at the success of the show?
D. CHAPMAN: Absolutely. A guy said today -- he saw me in Hollywood and said, "There goes big, bad Dog." I said, "Listen, it's not big bad Dog, it's lucky Dog."
And absolutely -- I see how many shows are presented to the network every day, how many shows are turned down and absolutely you've got have a little bit of luck in this business.
KING: Is this book total honesty? You deal with everything in it?
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir, I thought I -- you know I got everything out in the open. I've had some critics of mine read it and they've called me -- one today and said, "I've changed my mind."
I'm going on a big national tour right now on 30 states. Remember you told me about the book signing and I started last night in Hawaii. I do one across the street from you today and we start. So a lot of people have read it and said, "You know, it is a very good book." I personally think you would like it.
KING: I will certainly read it.
D. CHAPMAN: And I do admit a lot of things. But, you know, I haven't been a criminal for many, many years so I kind of, you know, it's been 30 years since I've done that. But I like laid it all and the altar and...
B. CHAPMAN: He's very candid.
KING: It's the only way to do it.
B. CHAPMAN: He's very candid and he's very honest, brutally honest in some sections.
KING: The book is "You Can Run But You Can't Hide." Our crew today shot lots of great video today of Dog the Bounty Hunter. You saw some of it earlier. If you want to check out, it's a Web extra on our site, cnn.com/LarryKing.
More from Dog and Mrs. Dog when we come back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. CHAPMAN: All right...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.
D. CHAPMAN: When I get like disappointed or things get negative, I come to the kids because the joy that the kids bring me overcomes any sadness or heartache that I have.
Little Bonnie, look out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Duane, in placing this ring on Beth's finger, repeat after me, "We are now joined together.."
D. CHAPMAN: We are now joined together...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...as husband and wife."
D. CHAPMAN: ...as legal husband and wife.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You are now joined as my husband..."
B. CHAPMAN: You are now joined as my husband to me....
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...from this day forward."
B. CHAPMAN: ...from this day forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...I give you this ring.
B. CHAPMAN: ...I give you this ring.
D. CHAPMAN: With this ring, baby, I thee wed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Before we continue with Mr. and Mrs. Dog Chapman, a quick reminder that it's that time of the week again. There's a new podcast ready for downloading. It's at CNN.com/LarryKing or on iTunes. It's about the mystery of UFOs. Check it out at CNN.com/LarryKing or subscribe to it on iTunes.
What was that wedding like?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, it's -- you know, the wedding was fantastic. I mean it was very expensive but it was very emotional also. I mean, it was -- you know why, we lost my daughter the day before and then, you know, everyone was there. I mean, it was -- I'll never forget it in -- ever, ever.
KING: Did you think of canceling it because of the daughter?
B. CHAPMAN: Yes.
D. CHAPMAN: Oh, yes, absolutely.
B. CHAPMAN: We did. But all our friends were there, our family, you know. I just -- you know, Duane tells me all the time that, you know, the Lord did not bring us as far as we've come for us to be apart. So it wouldn't be right for us to stop the wedding at that point. It wouldn't be a good example to the other kids to do that.
D. CHAPMAN: Well -- and when I get into a bind like that where I have to make a decision, I go to the mechanics book called The Bible. And in The Bible it says it's kind of bad luck to cancel the wedding so...
B. CHAPMAN: Now tell your friend.
D. CHAPMAN: And my friend, my Jewish friend said, "Duane, it's bad luck." And when I get depressed I go towards my Jewish friends.
KING: Good thinking.
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You have a website where people can know where you're going to be in this 30-state tour?
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir. If any subpoena guy wants to get us, we're -- no, the Web site is, and there will be some getting us, www.DogTheBountyHunter.com. But we list where we're going to be. So you know we're going to be on the book tour.
KING: www.DogTheBountyHunter.com.
An e-mail question from Molly in Franklin, Tennessee: "What do you think of all the celebrities being arrested and sometimes going to jail? Do you think any of them would benefit from one of your famous Dog lectures?"
B. CHAPMAN: All of them.
D. CHAPMAN: Well, all of them and mostly right now they are all young kids that are coming up in the world that are earning their way with money. But, you know, where's their mentors at? I mean, as we -- I've got mentors. The Bible says that people with wisdom surround themselves with men and women of wisdom. So I think they're mentors. They're young kids. I mean you know that. They're young.
Now if they were my age and doing it, it's felonious. I think it's more mysterious and you know they're just getting -- sowing their oats. But they need mentors to slow them down.
B. CHAPMAN: You know the thing is that they don't learn from the first time, you know. It's that they keep repeating these same mistakes over and over and over.
KING: Why?
B. CHAPMAN: Like, you know, as if their celebrity status is going to get them out of it. We understand the criminal justice system and if just one time they would step up and go you know what, I did that and that was poor judgment. I'm never going to do that again. Next time I'm getting a car service to take -- pick me up. A judge would like so much more favorable on that versus the I didn't do it, I couldn't get my hair down, I'm really sorry, I was late. All that crap pisses them off.
KING: Did you -- are you getting out of the -- are you still doing bounty hunting?
D. CHAPMAN: No, sir. We're still filming the show. We're entering our fifth season right now. We're taking a little -- a month off.
KING: You don't take a job anymore?
D. CHAPMAN: Sir?
KING: You don't bounty hunt.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, I do. We're going...
KING: You do?
D. CHAPMAN: ...in our fifth season. We're starting the show of bouncing hunting. So we're taking 30 days off to promote the book and celebrate the Mexico decision and then we're back to the grinding board.
KING: Does it drive you nuts when you can't get someone?
D. CHAPMAN: No, I...
B. CHAPMAN: It drives me nuts if we can't get them.
D. CHAPMAN: ... it -- you know we're -- man, I don't mean to sound boisterous because I -- hopefully you know that I'm not like that but we're getting pretty doggone good. I mean she's even getting good. The kids are getting good. So if it takes more than two days to catch somebody...
KING: Do you get everyone?
D. CHAPMAN: We've got them all, every single one of them.
KING: You've never had...
B. CHAPMAN: Larry...
D. CHAPMAN: No, sir.
B. CHAPMAN: ...do you really think I'd let him come home at night if he didn't have the guy?
D. CHAPMAN: No, we've never...
B. CHAPMAN: I mean, come on now, really.
D. CHAPMAN: We've never went after...
KING: The Mafia hasn't gotten...
B. CHAPMAN: Yes. No, he's got to catch them or he can't come home.
D. CHAPMAN: I mean there'll be someone that gets away some day. And Annie has told me, you rock, we'll roll. If the guy gets away, Dog, we're showing it.
B. CHAPMAN: You better hope that day doesn't come soon.
KING: The book is "You Can Run But You Can't Hide." The guest is the Dog, Duane "Dog" Chapman and his lovely wife.
Hey, got a bad guy in your neighborhood? Up next, Dog gives you some hints on how to handcuff the bad guys. In fact, he'll try it out on one of our LARRY KING LIVE staffers right here in the studios. And if he's not nice, we may throw away the key. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": As you know by now Michael Vick has been ordered by the Atlanta Falcons not to report to practice. Good. Actually, do you know who turned Michael Vick in? You know who is was? Dog the Bounty Hunter. What are the odds?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That's fame.
Before we have our demonstration, let's take a phone call, why not.
Somerset, Kentucky, hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Larry.
KING: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Larry.
KING: Yes, go ahead. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Dog and hi, Beth. We love your story. And we want to know if you're ever going to make like a live story movie out of your real life story. And everybody calls me Beth so you have a twin, Beth.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Are you going to do a movie of your life?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, I'd like, to absolutely. I, of course, wouldn't want to play in it. Reality television is not actor. But I'd like to see that, yes.
KING: Chuck Norris.
D. CHAPMAN: That would be great. You're right.
B. CHAPMAN: On the seventh of this month A&E is running a show called "A Man Called Dog." And it's a walk through the books, through his real life. It's a bio of his life. So that might suit her for now.
KING: OK. We're going to do a demonstration. Go, Dog.
D. CHAPMAN: OK.
KING: Brad is one of our key people here at CNN. What's your title before you pass away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Production assistant.
KING: Production assistant. All right, Brad.
Now, what are you going to show us?
D. CHAPMAN: I'm going to show -- you know you might think that I just grab him or fight with him and all that, but you can make someone be mad at you and you can make someone hurt you. So I'm going to act like I'm walking down the street.
KING: Now he's the guy with the bounty on him.
D. CHAPMAN: He's the perpetrator. I want to catch him. But I want to be a gentleman about it, right? So I'm walking down the street and the first thing I'm going to shake the man's hand and I'm going to get him, and he's down. And of course, Beth is there and he's cuffed. Now you know that was really, really fast. But you don't have...
KING: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he's got me, Larry.
D. CHAPMAN: Are you all right?
B. CHAPMAN: Do you want a drink of water? (LAUGHTER)
KING: Now that was fast.
D. CHAPMAN: Would you please sign a release?
B. CHAPMAN: That you weren't injured.
D. CHAPMAN: So as long as -- do we have handcuff keys, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's got the key?
D. CHAPMAN: OK, you have to go that way.
B. CHAPMAN: He just got a promotion.
KING: Live with it for a while. The key is the quickness.
D. CHAPMAN: Well, the key is to get the person as quick as you can. Like I say, you can make him fight and you can make him cuss you out. But the whole idea is to get the person in cuffs, you know, get him in the back of the car, find out what makes him tick and try to fix him, drop him off and go get the next one.
KING: Do you ever have offers of I'll pay you off, don't turn me in?
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, absolutely.
B. CHAPMAN: All the time.
D. CHAPMAN: Years ago.
B. CHAPMAN: Like Andrew Luster.
D. CHAPMAN: That Luster offered me...
B. CHAMAN: Luster offered money.
D. CHAPMAN: A lot of times the bounty was 50 bucks. The guy had $150 and, you know, you to put the guy in jail for the 50 bucks.
KING: I'm sure sometimes the people you apprehend turn out to be innocent.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes.
KING: Not everyone...
D. CHAPMAN: Forty percent of them are plea bargained down.
B. CHAPMAN: Those are your -- a lot of your first time offenders.
KING: That's not your concern, right? You did your job. D. CHAPMAN: Well, no -- but I -- you know, it's like -- they're -- like an attorney, you're his client and so you become like his step-family, you know what I mean. So with my people, they're like my step-family. They're my clients. I want to know did that talk I just gave Albert work? Has Albert now got a job? I saw Albert at Safeway. What are you doing, Albert? Whose car is that?
You know -- I mean if you just -- you try to keep your eyes closed and go on to the next guy but you don't and you think about Albert.
KING: What are the rewards, Dog of what you do?
D. CHAPMAN: Well...
KING: Other than financial.
D. CHAPMAN: ... well, we'll see in heaven. I mean I've had a happy life. People say, "Dog, I love you." It's great, like you. It's so great. Everyone recognizes -- I'll never be as famous as Larry King, but you have to know what I feel when they say, "I love you, Larry and I love you, Dog." There's nothing like that.
KING: No.
D. CHAPMAN: There's nothing like that, to get up in the morning and people love you and say hi and I'm just -- you know I'm very -- I'm a lucky man.
KING: No one loves you more than Beth.
B. CHAPMAN: Nope.
KING: You know that.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes, sir, thank you.
KING: We'll take a break and be back with our remaining moments, another e-mail question, maybe even a phone call. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
B. CHAPMAN: Come on, come on, come on. Are you in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. She turned around.
B. CHAPMAN: She's on the run hard right now. Where is she going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know where she was going.
D. CHAPMAN: OK, keep looking, guys, keep looking.
B. CHAPMAN: Oh no, she got away. She got away?
D. CHAPMAN: Shut up, we'll catch her. B. CHAPMAN: I'm sorry. I can't even remember the last time somebody got away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Still haven't found a key for the handcuffs. Good luck, Brad. It's going to be a long weekend.
D. CHAPMAN: It's amazing you asked about the payoff because Beth won't let me carry a key because she said, "You're too soft-hearted." So I really, brother, don't have a key, Brad.
KING: There's no key, Brad. It's OK.
An e-mail question from Melanie in East Fellowfield, Pennsylvania: "Dog, do you have any mixed feelings about working with family? You know you've got people who will guard your back and fight for you but you could lose someone you love if things go bad."
D. CHAPMAN: Well, I want my family around me all the time. And I want them to the experience and the knowledge not to become a victim of crime. Yes, I do.
That's what the prayer is for though. Before we start every one, we pray, you know, if this is the final time, God take us to heaven and bless us. Now I do that not, you know, for television, I do that for the kids. So we go out not in the name of the Lord but we don't go out there in the name of Satan either. So I think that we're covered. God is blessing us. God is watching us. And I want my babies with me. I want them.
B. CHAPMAN: And you can ground them if they mess up.
D. CHAPMAN: Yes.
KING: Let's take a call.
Kansas City, Kansas, hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Dog, Beth. Are you guys coming to Kansas City any time soon for the...
KING: Is Kansas City on your tour?
D. CHAPMAN: I'm not sure. You can go to that Web site and check it out.
KING: Just go to the Web site and they'll let you know.
D. CHAPMAN: They're adding it on every day.
KING: I know he's speaking in Washington, D.C. on August 13. And the A&E special, "A Man Named Dog" will air on August 14. And the website again is what?
D. CHAPMAN: DogTheBountyHunter.com. B. CHAPMAN: www...
KING: DogTheBountyHunter.com. You'll get the whole schedule of the tour.
D. CHAPMAN: Correct, yes, sir.
KING: Anything you regret?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, in life, yes. You know I wish that I would have been a police officer instead of taking it the hard way like this. I regret not working for the government. I sure want a piece of bin Laden. I sure want to try.
KING: You'd like to go over on that one.
D. CHAPMAN: I'd like to go on that one.
B. CHAPMAN: And they told me he cannot because he'll be in jail in Pakistan for illegally bounty hunting.
KING: In Pakistan, it's illegal?
B. CHAPMAN: I'm sure.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: By the way, in some states it's illegal, right?
D. CHAPMAN: Well, no -- wherever you don't have bail bondsmen, you don't need a bounty hunter. Oregon kind of frowns at it. They said -- I was down there once catching a guy and they said, "We don't recognize bounty hunters here." I said, "You'll recognize me. I've got a funny hairdo." And as long as I worked under the citizens right to arrest law, I was cool. But if I went down there, you know, "I'm a bounty hunter. I've got a badge." They don't -- they frown on that.
But out of 40 -- out of 50 states, 48 allow bounty hunting.
KING: How about Canada?
D. CHAPMAN: Canada, a citizen's arrest -- right to citizen's arrest, absolutely. They don't have the bail system as we do. You're just -- the state gets you out or the country. So anywhere where you've got individuals like bail bondsmen involved in that is where bounty hunting is allowed.
KING: It's always rewarding for you, isn't it?
D. CHAPMAN: It's always rewarding. It's rewarding to get the person because I always wonder what made this guy tick. So to catch him, put him in the car and get to know him. You know you know all about him and now I want to meet him. And then after the victims -- I mean it's amazing when they say, "Dog, you know, can I go to sleep tonight." Andrew luster's victims said, "I don't have to think that he's crawling through my window. The wind is the wind and the leaves are the leaves." And it really helps when they -- you know, they mean it. Thank you very much for taking the neighborhood burglar or bully or car thief. I mean it's a very rewarding job.
KING: I'm really anxious to read this. The book is "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" by Duane "Dog" Chapman, an incredible story. His successful television continues to ride high. He's on a major tour now for this book. He's going to 30 different states, doing a book signing a couple of blocks from here tonight. And the A&E special will air August 14, "A Man Named Dog."
And we thank Beth and Duane "Dog" Chapman for being with us.
B. CHAPMAN: Thank you, Larry...
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you, sir, for having us on your show.
B. CHAPMAN: ...very much.
D. CHAPMAN: Thank you again.
KING: Well, always a pleasure.
Don't forget to check out our Web site, CNN.com/LarryKing. You can send an email or video question to upcoming guests, participate in a Dog-related quick vote or download our newest podcast, UFOs. We've also got a great Web extra feature, tonight's guest, Dog the Bounty Hunter. It's all CNN.com/LarryKing.
And on that note, we wish you a very, very happy weekend. And we turn things over to New York, Anderson Cooper and "AC 360."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
