A former state official, who also was a top American aide in Iraq, faces possible charges after being accused of brandishing a gun at another motorist on I-15 over the weekend.

The Utah Highway Patrol was expected today to hand over to prosecutors the investigation of Robert Gross, 54, Centerville, in the road-rage incident, which landed him in Salt Lake County Jail on Saturday. He was booked for investigation of using a weapon in a fight or threat, a class A misdemeanor, according to jail records, and was released a few hours later.

Gross and his wife and occupants in the other vehicle had conflicting statements on how the incident transpired, according to their witness statements and the incident report that was released Wednesday by the Utah Highway Patrol.

A pickup truck and a convertible driven by Gross collided as the pickup merged into traffic along northbound I-15 near Lehi, the incident report stated.

Shortly after, people in the pickup made "a double obscene gesture," according to the witness statement written by Gross.

Both Gross and his wife, Kristine, described feeling threatened. "He (Robert Gross) was nervous also and picked up his concealed weapon so they would leave us alone," Kristine Gross wrote.

But Gross wrote that he only reached for the gun from under the seat and put it between his legs.

"At no time did I intend to brandish the weapon, point it or threaten with it. Because we were in a convertible, and the pickup pulled along my side, the (occupants of the pickup) may have seen me pull the weapon out from under the seat so that I could retrieve it if necessary," Gross wrote.

But the driver of the pickup wrote in his witness statement that it was "flashed."

"And (Gross) raised it up and down a few times to let us know that he was armed," pickup driver Ray Carter wrote.

One of Carter's passengers was a Utah Department of Corrections officer. The officer "didn't see the weapon, but my other passenger did," Carter wrote. The officer called 911.

Gross, who apparently was driving home from a wedding reception in Provo, was pulled over in Sandy. The highway patrol seized a black Sig Sauer in an unbuttoned holster, with three magazines of .40-caliber ammunition.

If charged and convicted, a class A misdemeanor carries at least a one-year jail term and a $2,500 fine.

Gross told the Deseret Morning News he is eager to tell his side of the story, but his attorney has counseled him to keep quiet about the incident. He did say that his family is still shaken up about it.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Gross' attorney said he had not yet seen an official police report.