Bail bond employees from Council Bluffs are in trouble with law enforcement on the Nebraska side of the river.
Four employees of Gallagher Bail Bond were cited for Assault and False Imprisonment after a man they were picking up reported to Omaha Police that he had been assaulted Monday morning. Omaha Police took a statement from 21 year old Phillip Davis about the incident while he was at the Pottawattamie Jail.
Tom Gallagher, owner of Gallagher Bail Bond, tells 6 News that Davis had used their company for a Driving Under Suspension charge, and since Davis missed his court date, he broke his contract with Gallagher. “They’ll issue a warrant, and then they’ll issue bond forfeiture proceedings. I can go pick up the person right then and there."
Gallagher says they reached out to Davis telling him to turn himself in numerous times but that it appeared he wasn't going to, so his employees stepped in. “He was the aggressor, and so they took him down to the ground.”
Bail bond companies are not allowed to operate in Omaha, but federal laws do allow for employees to cross state lines to apprehend fugitives. Gallagher says he runs into problems frequently when trying to pick up fugitives in Omaha. “Even the cops last night that come over from Omaha said, 'Yeah, I wish we had bail bondsmen over there, but this is the law over there. So don’t come over and do this anymore.'”
Davis is being held at the Pottawattamie County Jail for Driving Under Suspension, Failure to Appear and Criminal Mischief.