4-Hour SWAT Team Deployment in R-Section Leads to Man’s Arrest for Kidnapping and Armed Threats

James Emory Pudder, a 47-year-old resident of 32 Rolling Sands Drive, is at the Flagler County jail on no bond and charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and robbery following a May 31 incident that started as a party and turned into a violent confrontation involving a firearm and the SWAT team. 

The incident took place late Sunday night as Pudder was socializing with the 56-year-old woman he’s lived with for about a year. The couple also lives with the woman’s brother. According to Pudder’s arrest report, his mood suddenly changed. He started name-calling the woman and threatening to take her motorcycle. 

When the woman removed the motorcycle’s seat, Pudder armed himself with a handgun and walked into the woman’s brother’s room with it, asking him where the motorcycle seat went. The brother said he had no idea. Pudder allegedly cocked the gun, again demanded to know where the seat was, then ordered the man to walk with him to the garage. 

There Pudder pointed the gun at the 54-year-old man’s head, the report states, allegedly threatening to kill him if he did not return the motorcycle seat. When the woman said she was calling 911, Pudder grabbed it and “struck her with her phone and her hand and then slammed her phone on the ground and stomped on it,” according to the arrest report. The scene took place in the garage. Pudder “then pointed the firearm at [the woman] while she was seated in her car and stated, ‘I’ll kill you both,’” before walking back into the house. 

The woman ran to a neighbor’s house and called her daughter, who called 911. Pudder left the house before deputies arrived, hiding in a neighbor’s house. Deputies were not aware that he had fled. 

“Due to Pudder’s criminal history, reported military history, and possibility of being armed, FCSO’s SWAT Team, Crisis Negotiation Team, Criminal Intelligence Unit, K-9 Unit, and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Unit responded,” a sheriff’s release states. “Volusia Sheriff’s Office’s Air One helicopter also responded to assist.”

The SWAT Team cleared the residence and only then determined Pudder had fled. While searching the area, deputies discovered an open door at a house across the street. Deputies then contacted the homeowner, who confirmed Pudder was inside. Deputies then located Pudder and arrested him, four hours after arriving at the scene. 

Pudder has no previous criminal record in Flagler or Volusia counties, nor in the state prison system. The release, however, notes that he has previous charges apparently in other counties of “burglary, assault, menacing, and DUI,” an apparent reference to a 2023 incident in North Carolina. The release does not specify whether he was convicted on any of the charges.