Argument over Riverside parking space escalates ; One person an off-duty policeman, the other trying to get official report

John Study, 20, his pregnant fiancee and her parents looked for a parking spot near Riverside Park on a sunny, windy day last month.

Five times they tried to pull into a spot, and someone else got there first. Seeing another spot, Study hopped from the car to hold the spot.

A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office incident report indicates an off- duty police officer, Corinthian Morgan, started backing into the spot where Study stood.

Study said he told Morgan he was holding the spot for his family. Morgan backed into the spot anyway, and he heard Study bang on the car's trunk.

Study says Morgan hit him with the car. He says Morgan shouted at him that no one was going to be holding any parking spot.

Morgan says he saw Study move out of the parking spot before he backed in.

Study says he didn't, and that's why he slammed on the car trunk.

Study said after he slammed on the trunk, Morgan pulled a gun.

Study said he shouted, "Oh, you've got a gun," and "There's no reason to act ignorant about this. You can have the parking spot."

Morgan denied pulling the gun in the police report. He said the gun was sitting on top of his backpack in the car. Morgan put the gun into a backpack, took it out of the car and took it over to his wife's car in a different parking spot by the time police arrived.

Morgan, according to the report, didn't hear "ignorant" but a derogatory racial slur. He told investigators he asked Study what he said.

Study says Morgan shouted, "Call me an - - one more time," and Study says he clarified that he had said "ignorant."

Study said he had no idea Morgan was an off-duty police officer, but when a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigator asked Study to describe the gun he pointed to the investigator's gun on his hip and said it looked like that one - a .40-caliber Glock Model 27 handgun.

Ultimately, Study said, the situation involves a he-said, she- said debate about the gun.

The State Attorney's Office said there wasn't enough evidence to charge Morgan with a crime.

Study says he went public with the issue this week because he's frustrated he can't get a report from police about the incident.

But Study said police didn't investigate whether Morgan hit him with a car. He said he is trying to get some final report about whether the Sheriff's Office determined if Study was hit by the car so he could file an insurance claim. He said he missed a week of work because his leg was bruised. Study's fiancee's parents said police never interviewed them about the car. The report only said that Merchi Fuster, the fiancee's dad, "could not see anything that happened because he and the rest of his family were inside their vehicle trying to park."

Fuster said that's not true. He told police he didn't see a gun, but he didn't say he didn't see anything.

Fuster said he saw his future son-in-law get bumped with the car.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda said the case is being investigated by internal affairs, and she doesn't comment on active investigations.

Morgan is a 23-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, and he is assigned to the teleserve unit, which takes reports by telephone.Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310