Dog the Bounty Hunter star Leland Chapman is speaking out after he was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon after being injured during the family’s first manhunt since Beth Chapman’s death on June 26. Chapman, the son of Duane “Dog” Chapman, suffered a torn ACL while subduing and arresting suspect Edward Morales in Adams County, Colorado. The injury occurred as he was still “healing” from a prior surgery on his left knee.
“I was just getting that healed. Just came out of rehab and everything, so I’m trying to take it easy…I’m trying not to get in no fights and not running,” Chapman told Entertainment Tonight. “Two minutes before we get [to the manhunt location] they say the guy is gonna run, so we pull up on the guy. I get out of the car. I walked right to the side. I see him. He’s running, so I call the runner to try to go catch him, but he slipped and fell.”
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Chapman explained that despite being unable to run, he decided to go after the suspect after his father advised him to “Grab a car.” After getting into “the first vehicle” he saw, Chapman managed to cut Morales off “in the park in front of him.”
“When I pulled in, he made eye contact with me, and I was seeing that this guy is running at slow speed, my speed, you know what I mean? ‘Cause he was tired himself,” Chapman explained. “I got out of the car and I was hobbling along and he slammed the gate right in my face.”
Knowing that the suspect was still behind the gate, Chapman said that he decided to kick it open, a decision that ultimately led to his injury.
“When I went to kick the gate, it kind of flexed and then it completely severed off my Achilles tendon. So it broke. Snapped it right in half,” he said. “When I put my foot down, I kind of felt like it was asleep. I felt like I was walking on sand.”
Despite the injury, Chapman continued the chase and “hobbled around the shed,” where he found Morales halfway up on the fence.” Chapman managed to “get off one shot on the taser,” hitting Morales near “the Achilles tendon himself and in the butt.”
The taser gave the other bounty hunters enough time to catch up, though Morales didn’t go down without a fight.
“Then, he got back up and tried to take off and then that’s when everybody grabbed him,” he said. “If I wouldn’t have done that, I would have caught him myself, but I still slowed him down enough for everybody else to catch him.”
Morales was charged with domestic violence and pleaded gully to harassment in June. A warrant was issued for his arrest on June 24 after he failed to appear at a hearing. Following the Tuesday manhunt, Morales was booked at the Adams County Jail.
For Chapman, he is now reportedly looking at another surgery that will take place next week.
