Prosecutors still investigating gun charges from Cape gas station altercation

Prosecutors are rethinking charges that have been brought against a Jackson man for allegedly wielding a gun during a racially charged argument at a Cape Girardeau gas station Wednesday.

At issue is whether James. H. "Junior" Swift actually displayed his .40-caliber pistol in a threatening manner, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said Friday.

"I think there is some question as to what the witnesses are saying," Swingle said. "So we're asking for some additional information and should know within the week whether we're going to proceed."

On Wednesday evening, Swift -- 38 and an Iraq War veteran -- was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon following an argument at Kidd's on Broadway with a woman over a spot at the fuel pump.

Swift was released on $7,500 bond Thursday night, but he still faces the Class D felony, which is punishable by up to four years in prison and a potential $5,000 fine. Swift on Friday declined to comment, saying he prefers to wait until he talks with a lawyer on Monday.

According to a police probable-cause statement, Swift was talking with a friend near Swift's car that night when the driver of another vehicle, identified in police reports as Patricia Cox, began cursing Swift for failing to move his car so she could get gas.

In the statement, Swift maintains that he was blocked in his spot by another car in front of him. He couldn't move, he said, until that driver finished paying for his fuel.

But Cox, who told police she was running out of gas, then got out of her car, cursed Swift and spit on him three times, the statement says.

That's when Swift, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, went to his car, grabbed his gun and tucked it into his belt under his shirt, the statement says. Cox then allegedly contacted several family members to come to the gas station, one witness said. She also then called the police.

Swift told police that Cox asked her daughter to call her "boys" so they could fix "this little white boy."

According to Cox, it was Swift who cursed first.

"To say I cursed him first is a blatant lie," Cox said in an email sent to the Southeast Missourian on Saturday.

Cox said she politely asked Swift to move his car and only cursed him after he did so first. Cox also took issue with Swingle's questions about whether Swift displayed the weapon in a threatening manner.

"We are arguing; he's angry," Cox said. "Isn't that threatening enough to see someone get a gun in the middle of an argument? ... It was a threatening, intimidating gesture."

Samuel Francis is Swift's longtime friend who was with Swift at the time of the incident. In an interview with the Southeast Missourian, Francis said Cox, who is black, yelled racial slurs at Swift, who is white.

The probable-cause statement says both parties were swearing at each other, but only Cox brought race into the argument.

"He never did anything illegal," Francis said. "He never showed his gun to her. He never pointed it at anybody. Never. ... He should have never been charged."

Swift felt threatened, Francis said, because the woman had already spit on him and had called some people to come to the gas station. Both men assumed they were coming to fight them, Francis said.

"I don't blame him at all," Francis said. "Even I was concerned when she said she was calling her people to come up there."

In her email, Cox said she only called her "boys" after she saw him get his gun from the car.

Swingle, however, said the issue is not one involving the right to carry a concealed weapon, something that Swift has with his license. The issue is whether he displayed the weapon in a threatening or angry manner, Swingle said.

"He had a permit to carry a concealed weapon," Swingle said. "But nobody has a permit to exhibit a weapon in a threatening manner."

Swingle said questions remain about what he described as "basically a swearing match." Swift told police he didn't think that anyone other than him actually saw the gun and he says he never pointed it at anyone.

The charges were filed by assistant prosecuting attorney Jack Koester. But after Koester filed the charges, he and Swingle had a conversation and they asked for more investigation by police.

"What we have to determine is whether he actually displayed it," Swingle said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

1325 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO