Off-Duty Cop Confronts OC Skateboarders With Gun: Video

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — An off-duty Orange County Sheriff's Department investigator is on administrative leave after pulling a gun on a group of teen skateboarders, a department spokeswoman confirmed to Patch.

The band "Stink Inc." was performing at a San Clemente skate park on Avenida La Pata on Saturday night when the incident occurred. The investigator, dressed in a white cap and athletic shorts, came from the nearby baseball fields and confronted the group, saying the music was too loud. The situation quickly escalated from there.

"He's like, 'My son can't focus while playing baseball,'" Nathan Scott told KTLA in interview. "Everyone started laughing and making fun of him."

Another witness, Logan Plier, told reporters that "a kid was pushed" into the irate father. According to Plier, the boy raised his skateboard like a shield, and that's when the officer brandished a handgun at the teen. The investigator, who has not been identified, is then seen in the above video aiming what appears to be a small handgun at the skateboard-toting teen. The teen then raises his hands and backs away as directed by the officer.

"The guy thought he was about to hit him with the board, so he pulled out the gun," Plier told KTLA.

Witnesses later said the investigator failed to immediately identify himself as a police officer. When he finally did show his identification, those present jeered, calling it a "Walmart badge."

Numerous cell phone videos after the initial incident were shared across social media, many laced with profanity that Patch has determined not to show.

Now an internal investigation into the off-duty officer's actions is underway, sheriff's office spokesperson Carrie Braun told Patch. The investigation will be handed over to the Orange County District Attorney's office when it's concluded.

"Orange County Sheriff's Department employees are expected to conduct themselves with professionalism on and off-duty," she said. "We take this incident seriously and will thoroughly investigate. Due to the ongoing investigation, no additional information will be released at this time."

Residents of San Clemente weighed in on social media, from both sides, many raising the point that a person in Santa Ana was fatally struck with a skateboard in 2015.

Resident Sonny Sanchez said in a San Clemente Facebook group the officer involved was "a complete coward pulling a gun at a kid. Who should be held to a higher standard? A cop or a 16-year-old?"