Brent Farley told Phoenix news station KNXV-TV (http://goo.gl/fMzWKM ) that the group would not have gone to Chief Joe Yahner’s home if they had known it was his.
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The department said Farley, who confronted the chief after banging on the door and demanding he come outside, was carrying a handgun at the time, as were several others.
The police spokesperson said the bounty hunters did not bother to verify the tip and avoid the potentially deadly confrontation.
The home they raided belongs to the Phoenix Chief of Police.
He was booked Wednesday morning for criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Brent Farley, the 43-year-old owner of NorthStar, was one of the bounty hunters at the scene, and he was arrested on charges of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to police.
It turned out to be a mistake of epic proportion when the slim, white, police chief answered the door in his underwear, awoken from his slumber, rather than an expected 310-pound, black, male suspect – wanted out of Oklahoma on drug charges.
Police spokesman Trent Crump says the bondsmen believed a fugitive needed in Oklahoma was in the home. The incident was captured on film, and at one point in the video an unidentified man shouted for the occupant of the house to open their door. Police are not identifying her or her relationship to the group, but child welfare officials have been notified, Crump said.
Police also released a brief 911 call from one of Yahner’s neighbors who said the bounty hunters had been disturbing people in the neighborhood. Burns has been working to push a bill that would require both, he said.
Asked if he thought he was set up with the tip, he said he doesn’t know, doesn’t really care and is done with bounty hunting as soon as he gets out of jail. Police are investigating where the initial false report originated.
Crump said the behavior of the bounty hunter is not indicative of all recovery agents.
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And like so many cops have done in the past, they had the wrong home.
