Protests after San Diego police officer pulls gun on father with 8-year-old son in traffic stop

Voice of father can be heard in video telling officer to ‘take that gun off’ child as he appears to believe officer is aiming at his son

Protesters congregated outside the headquarters of the San Diego Police Department after a video was published that appeared to show an officer aiming his gun at an 8-year-old boy as his father was being arrested during a traffic stop.

The department released bodycam footage to reject the narrative that brought demonstrators to the police station Wednesday night.

The incident took place during a traffic stop after a suspect didn't yield for a speeding violation which led police to briefly chase the man. The cellphone video shot by a witness at the scene appeared to show an officer aiming his gun at the suspect's car after the man was taken into custody, KBPS reported.

The witness video prompted anger online which led the police department to release bodycam footage to show their side of the story.

SDPD public-affairs Lt Shawn Takeuchi said: "The body-worn camera footage is being released due to misinformation which is circulating on social media regarding this incident. We hope the release of this video will provide clarity as to what occurred."

The police officer's body camera footage shows the officer aiming his gun towards the driver as he exits the car and follows the officers' directions to slowly move towards them after which he's taken into custody. The officer keeps his gun in the direction of the car as the suspect's son exits the vehicle and moves towards the officers with his hands up.

Read more: Trump supporters, counter-protesters clash in San Diego

The officer appears to be holding his gun more towards the ground and the back of the car instead of directly at the young boy, as the witness video made it appear.

The officer holding the gun can be heard speaking to the boy with a calm voice in the video, telling him: "Just come over to us, all right? You're good, bud."

The voice of the father can also be heard in the video telling the officer to "take that gun off" the child, as he appears to believe the officer is aiming at his son.

"He's 8 years old, bro!" he can be heard saying.

A witness video of the traffic stop sparked outrage as it looked like the officer was aiming at the child. The video was posted on the SanDiegoville blog Tuesday.

Later in the almost eight-minute video released by the SDPD, another officer is speaking to the young boy, explaining why the arrest was made.

The officer says: “See, now, your dad was driving really, really fast. Did you hear the siren behind us for a while? Yeah, see, your dad was supposed to pull over when the siren was going, and he didn’t for whatever reason, and we didn’t know what was going on, so we had to pull out the gun and stuff like that.”

"You’re not in trouble. OK?” The officer adds.

The San Diego Tribune reported that a motorcycle officer saw the father of the 8-year-old boy drive 70 miles an hour in an area where the speed limit was 40 miles an hour. The officer called for back up after he turned on the lights and siren and the driver still didn't pull over and stop.

Mr Takeuchi said: “The officer never pointed his firearm at the child and maintained his aim at the vehicle.”

Police said that the father was cited on a misdemeanor of suspicion of reckless driving and then released. “The father and son left together after the citation was issued,” the department said in a statement.

Watch the entire body camera video below: