A group of female bounty hunters based in Orange County are the targets of a multi-million dollar lawsuit, after a man they tried to take into custody last month claimed they blinded him in one eye and caused him other severe injuries.
Dressed in pink and brandishing weapons, the 'Lipstick Bounty Hunters' burst into an Arby's in Huntington Beach in an attempt to take 35-year-old Daniel Duvall into custody after his bail bond was revoked.
A video taken by the women, and later posted on the Internet, shows the women chasing Duvall out of the restaurant, hitting him with a stun gun, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Duvall managed to drive away, eluding capture.
"They broke his nose, shot him in the eye twice, and blinded him," said San Diego attorney Dan Gilleon, who is expected to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the Lipstick Bounty Hunters, as well as others, on Duvall's behalf for using excessive force on his client.
"It's called assault and battery, felony assault and battery," Gilleon said. "It's as simple as that."
Duvall had been out on bond on drugs and weapons charges. He was being sought because he had failed to pay $4,000 he owed a bail bonds company, which then hired the Lipstick Bounty Hunters to arrest him.
Teresa Golt, owner of the Lipstick Bounty Hunters, blasted the allegation that they used excessive force on Duvall.
"We didn't use enough force," she told News 8, "Because by law we are allowed to use enough force to effect an arrest. Well, we did not effect the arrest because he got away."
Duvall did not get away for long, however: Tuesday night, the Lipstick Bounty Hunters tracked him down and took him into custody.
"It was a setback for them to go in and arrest him last night," Gilleon said, "But the way they did it, it just flat out proves my case."
Golt told News 8 she plans to fight this lawsuit on her own, without hiring an attorney.
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