Free You Can Run but You Can't Hide by Duane Dog Chapman

Donny
    went inside the house. I knew Jerry would recognize me. I tried to
    hide my face by putting the paper bag from the beer over my head,
    but I purposely ripped it so I wouldn’t have to participate in the plan.
    I knew Jerry Lee had about as bad a temper as Donny did. I didn’t
    want him to be an asshole. We all thought that he had been jumping
    Donny’s wife. We hoped Donny didn’t know. By his determination,
    though, I could tell he probably did.
    I liked Jerry. He and I were cool. I’d helped him out once, and I
    considered him my friend. He was a cool brother. I loved him, and
    he loved me.
    “Be cool, brother,” I said. “Don’t mess with that guy.”
    I didn’t see anything happen, but I heard a sound like a muffled
    gun ring out.
    “Fuck! I’ve been shot.” Donny came running back to the car,
    screaming and bleeding. For a moment, I actually thought that Jerry
    shot Donny. But the truth is, the shotgun blew up in Donny’s hand.
    Blood was gushing everywhere. We had to get Donny to the hos-
    pital. On the way, I asked him, “What the hell happened?”
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    Yo u Ca n R u n , b u t Yo u Ca n ’ t H i d e
    “I only hit him in the shoulder!”
    “What?!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re so stupid!
    Is he dead?” I could feel my heart beating through my thick leather
    biker jacket.
    “I only hit him in the shoulder.” Donny was absolutely certain
    about this.
    I pulled Donny by his hair. “What’d you do?” I was mad. I didn’t
    want any part of a shooting. This was just plain stupid drunken
    b.s.
    Cheryl got behind the wheel and punched the gas. I didn’t want
    to be in that car. It was a hot, late summer night. What if Donny
    had killed Jerry Lee?
    I had to check on Jerry Lee.
    They dropped me at my house and I called an ambulance. I gave
    the operator all the information I had, then got off the phone. I
    didn’t want her to know who was making the call.
    I began pacing the kitchen, running my hands through my hair.
    “Duane, what the hell is going on?” LaFonda was pissed and
    confused.
    I told LaFonda I hadn’t done anything wrong. Jerry had no idea
    I was there. I had nothing to hide. I was completely innocent. I
    didn’t even know Donny had a gun. It was a drug buy gone wrong.
    Shit.
    I discovered later that the phone was slightly off the hook.
    Pampa was a small town. Back in those days, the operator could
    come back on the line if the phone wasn’t hung up. She heard every
    word of my confession that I was there—even if I didn’t pull the
    trigger.
    By the time I got to Jerry Lee’s, the medics were bringing him
    out on a stretcher. I walked alongside him and we spoke—he was
    awake and alert while the Pampa police tried to get his statement.
    “It was the Devil’s Disciples. They were the ones who did this
    to me.”
    I knew the officer who was interviewing Jerry Lee—good old
    Officer Love. And he knew me. Don’t be confused by the cop’s
    name. He was a down home country boy.
    “Do you know who did this? Who was it? What was his name?”
    Love kept pushing for a name.
    “Yeah . . .” Jerry could barely speak. “It was a Disciple. . . .”
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    Suddenly, Love noticed me. He glared into my eyes like he was
    about to settle some score between us.
    Love looked back down at Jerry Lee and asked, “Was it Dog
    Chapman? Did Dog shoot you?”
    “No man . . . it wasn’t Dog. . . .”
    I helplessly watched the medics lift Jerry into the ambulance. I
    knew everything was gonna be all right. Love blocked me. He didn’t
    want me anywhere near Jerry Lee.
    Since I knew Love heard I wasn’t the shooter, I left Jerry Lee’s
    house certain that I wouldn’t be charged with pulling the trigger.
    And I truly believed Jerry Lee would survive. All I had to do was
    convince Donny and the gang to just lay low for a little while. A
    month or two would go by, and I thought this whole thing would
    blow over. I felt like I had dodged a