The man who filed harassment charges against Alabama’s Department of Transportation director this month said the case came after John Cooper threatened to shoot him over a property dispute.

Cooper, who has been ALDOT’s transportation director since 2011, was in the Marshall County Jail for about 30 minutes on June 12 before posting $500 bond on a charge of harassment/intimidation, according to jail records.

Gerald Carter, a Scottsboro businessman, told AL.com he filed the charge after a heated exchange with Cooper over an easement regarding property he purchased this year.

Carter said the incident that prompted Cooper’s arrest came after a series of encounters – some testy – with Cooper.

Cooper’s attorney, George Barnett, earlier appeared to suggest the arrest stemmed from a land dispute between Cooper and his neighbor.

“Mr. Cooper directed me to file a complaint for declaratory judgment cause of action in Marshall County Circuit Court regarding a neighbor who is falsely claiming an easement on Mr. Cooper’s property,” said Barnett.

The complaint about the land dispute has not been filed as of Monday. Attempts to contact Barnett for comment were not immediately successful Monday.

Earlier this year, Carter said he bought 5.5 acres adjacent to Cooper’s property at South Sauty Creek Resort campground in Langston.

Carter said he bought the property, off Joe’s Parkway, for the “million dollar” view of Lake Guntersville and the surrounding country.

The property adjoins a garden owned by Cooper, he said, and a gravel road. There is another entry way onto the property, Carter said, but Cooper keeps a locked gate there off Chilcotin Road.

Carter said he and his wife have camped at the resort for the past seven years, and hoped to buy property there for some time.

Though he knew Cooper worked for the Department of Transportation, Carter said he was unaware at the time of the incident that Cooper was the director.

According to Carter, Cooper notified him by mail shortly after buying the land that he and his wife were trespassing by using Joe’s Parkway.

Cooper initially told him he couldn’t access the gravel road.

Carter told Cooper in a subsequent meeting that he has a deeded easement allowing use of the road off Joe’s Parkway.

A second meeting with Cooper went a little better, he said, though the subject was not resolved. He said Cooper offered to trade Carter the land for another piece of property, which Carter declined.

A month later, on June 4, Carter said he and some friends spent much of that day clearing about an acre of trees and underbrush. Later that afternoon, Carter returned to the property to retrieve a logging chain.

However, he said, Cooper’s utility vehicle was blocking the gravel road.

Carter said Cooper spoke to him, demanding to see the easement.

After Carter produced it, Cooper told him he had “bought bad land” and accused him of “sneaking” onto the property for six weeks.

Carter said he told Cooper that he wouldn’t use Joe’s Parkway as long as Cooper took down the gate to the property.

“I said, you’ve got until Friday to take the gate down, or I’m taking the gate down,” Carter said.

“He said, ‘You touch my gate and I’ll shoot you.’ I said, ‘What did you say?’ He said, ‘You know what? You ain’t even worth the price of a bullet. You touch my gate and I’ll whup your fat ass.’

“I said, ‘John Cooper!’ And he said, ‘You heard me. I’m old and I got Parkinson’s, but I’ll still whup your fat ass!’ And I said, ‘John, you take your best shot and you make sure it’s a good one.’”

After Carter said again he would take the gate down by Friday, he said Cooper told him, “You go ahead! You touch that gate and I’ll bury you so far under the jail you’ll have to fart to smell fresh air.’”

Carter said he filed charges because Cooper threatened to shoot him.

“I think it’s a terrible situation,” he said.

“I’m just trying to enjoy land that I paid really good money for that legally belongs to me. We’re not trying to take anything that doesn’t belong to us. We’re not trying to hurt anybody. We’re just good, hardworking people who found land that we absolutely fell in love with.”