James Robert Davis, 44, who lives in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton, allegedly hit his neighbor’s face with a hammer outside of a home in the 1300 block of Ravinia Way. The confrontation was recorded on surveillance video, according to court documents.
Davis has been charged with felony first-degree assault and felony armed criminal action. He was arrested on Feb. 12, and as of today, Feb. 17, he was being held without bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, court records show.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was called on Feb. 12 about an assault with a hammer. When deputies arrived, they found a man whose face was covered in blood and was still bleeding.
The man told deputies he went over to talk with Davis about a situation involving their children. The man said Davis started “messing with a tool bag,” and the man said he was then hit in the face, the report said.
Video surveillance showed Davis pull into a driveway on a motorcycle at about 4:10 p.m., and the man approached Davis. The two men were seen arguing, and they both moved toward each other, according to the report.
The man who approached Davis is then seen stumbling back before running away while holding his face. Davis appeared to be holding an object in his right hand and is heard screaming profanities and threatening the other man, and the man can be heard saying, “I just got hit in the face with a hammer,” the report said.
Deputies found a hammer near the motorcycle, and there was blood on the motorcycle and the surrounding area, according to the report.
Davis allegedly told the other man that he would kill him. The Sheriff’s Office also reported that Davis said if he were in Mississippi, “he could shoot him for just coming in his yard,” the report said.