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'Cowboy,' bail bondsman both targeted by lawsuit
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Thursday, January 25, 2007
By Tommy Witherspoon
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A Waco man who claims he was beaten without provocation in October after missing a court date has filed a civil lawsuit against a bounty hunter and a bail bondsman.
James Callahan seeks unspecified amounts for medical expenses, lost earnings and punitive damages in his lawsuit, filed this week in Waco’s 414th State District Court against Waco bail bondsman Ronnie Hill and Dale Cobb, the controversial bounty hunter known as “Cowboy.”
Hill, 65, and Cobb, a 50-year-old convicted felon who tracks down bail jumpers for several bail bondsmen, were arrested for aggravated assault in the incident, but the cases have not been presented for indictment to a grand jury. The second-degree felony charges remain pending in the McLennan County district attorney’s office.
The lawsuit alleges that Cobb kicked in the back door of a home at 3545 Pine Ave., then started “hitting, kicking and beating Callahan in the face, head, chest and abdomen for a sustained period of time.”
The suit alleges Hill held Callahan down “to facilitate the brutal beating inflicted on Callahan by Cobb.”
Hill has said that a person who answered the front door let him inside while Cobb, who had tracked Callahan to the house, waited outside. Hill said Callahan initiated the confrontation after he asked him why he had missed his court date on a drunken-driving charge.
Hill said Cobb broke in through the back door only after he heard the struggle and came to Hill’s aid.
Cobb declined comment Wednesday on the lawsuit.
“I have a right to knock on any door in town and ask somebody why he didn’t come to court,” Hill said Wednesday. “And if the man jumps on me, there is going to be a fight. Mr. Cobb was there to back me up after I got hurt. I got a big round bruise on my left side, I was kicked in the face and had scabs on both my knees.”
The lawsuit alleges Callahan suffered multiple facial fractures in the incident.
Waco attorney John Malone, who filed the suit on Callahan’s behalf, did not return phone messages Wednesday.
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
757-5737
