Tim Chapman’s charge described
An Ala Moana Center security guard says that when he walked up to bounty hunter Tim Chapman sitting in his pickup truck, Chapman looked at him, cursed and dived into the back seat of the truck.
Jason Wessel testified Chapman did not appear to be wearing pants because when Chapman moved to the back of the truck, the guard said he saw Chapman's left buttock. He said Chapman was wearing a shirt.
Wessel was the only witness yesterday in Chapman's preliminary hearing in Honolulu District Court. Chapman, 42, is charged with first-degree terroristic threatening for allegedly trying to run over Wessel with his truck.
District Judge Russel Nagata ordered Chapman to stand trial on the charge in state Circuit Court. He scheduled Chapman's arraignment for Jan. 24.
First-degree terroristic threatening is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Chapman remains free after posting $11,000 bail.
After Chapman moved to the back of his truck, Wessel said, he told Chapman to step out of the truck after he put on his clothes.
Wessel said he and another Ala Moana Center security guard went to the ground-level parking lot of Bank of Hawaii at Keeaumoku and Kona streets at about 9 p.m. Jan. 3 after their dispatcher told them of a report of a man there fondling himself.
Wessel said he did not see Chapman fondle himself. He said it was only after Chapman returned to the driver seat that he recognized him from the suspended A&E network reality television show "Dog the Bounty Hunter."
Instead of stepping out of his truck, Wessel said, Chapman turned the front wheels of the truck toward him and, with tires screeching, drove the truck toward him.
He said Chapman's truck jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, entered Keeaumoku Street and then turned onto Kona Street. In the process, he said, Chapman's truck nearly struck two pedestrians.
Chapman's attorney Brook Hart suggested Chapman might have turned the wheels of his truck in Wessel's direction to avoid hitting a newspaper stand on the sidewalk. He also asked Wessel whether the truck was truly headed in his direction.
"Sir, if I had not moved, it would have struck me," Wessel replied.
Hart previously said Chapman spilled juice on himself and went to the back of his truck to change his pants when security guards started yelling at him. He had also said Chapman drove off to avoid negative publicity.