A driver and two juveniles reported fearing they would be shot after a man displayed a gun from a pickup during a road confrontation. Deputies responded Sept. 17 to the reported incident near Lyman Boulevard and Audubon Road in Chanhassen.
Prosecutors charged Craig Allen Swanson, 41, of Chanhassen, with three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
The driver told deputies a man in a red Ford F-150 had been tailgating him and making obscene gestures on Audubon Road. As the driver prepared to turn left onto Lyman Boulevard, the pickup driver pulled alongside and displayed a gun, according to the complaint.
The driver said the man held the gun toward the pickup’s ceiling. He did not see it pointed directly at the occupants of his vehicle, but said he feared for their safety and called 911.
One of the juveniles told deputies the man pointed the gun at them. Both juveniles said they saw the gun and were frightened, the complaint says.
Investigators identified Swanson as the pickup’s registered owner and said he matched the description provided. After his arrest, Swanson told a deputy he had carried a firearm that day but denied waving it at anyone. He said it was in a cooler.
During a search under a warrant, deputies found loaded magazines and ammunition strips in the pickup’s center console. They also recovered a loaded Taurus .380-caliber handgun from a lunch pail in a garage, according to the complaint.
