Bail bondsmen arrested in Myrtle Grove shots fired incident
PENSACOLA, Fla. July 1 2019 Two Escambia County bail bondsmen are behind bars after they tried to serve a warrant on a fugitive.
The sheriff’s office said the two overstepped their authority while trying to take a man into custody.
Authorities say the bondsmen were trying to take a fugitive into custody when he jumped out of a window and off a 2nd floor balcony, breaking his ankle.
Deputies said Willie Warren fired a shot at the fugitive, but no one was hit.
Warren and Wallace Hayward were taken into custody on Friday night.
Willie Warren faces a list of charges including aggravated assault, firing a weapon in public & obstruction of justice.
Wallace Hayward has been charged with for obstruction of justice
Reporters asked Assistant State Attorney John Molchan what authority bail bondsmen have.
“The US Supreme Court and the 1872 decision indicated that a bail bondsman can actually go to that person’s house, use reasonable force and actually apprehend them,” said Molchan.
However, they can’t use deadly force except in the case of self-defense.
ASAP Bail Bonds said that they were looking for Jacquell Peters, who was wanted to violating his probation.
The State Attorney’s Office said the man the two bail bondsmen were looking for climbed out of a window and jumped off a second-floor balcony, breaking his ankle.
Peters was arrested in 2016 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery.
“The severity of the offense can basically come into play. However, in the apprehension of this individual they are not given carte blanche to use whatever force there is,” said Molchan.
