LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors plan to announce Wednesday whether charges will be brought against an off-duty Los Angeles police officer who fired a gun during a scuffle with a 13-year-old boy.
The fight in the Anaheim front yard of Officer Kevin Ferguson 11 months ago was captured on two widely circulated videos that spurred heated anti-police protests in the city.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus is holding a morning news conference to say whether Ferguson will face charges.
The videos showed Ferguson exchanging angry words several teenagers who had walked across his lawn. The argument turned physical with the 13-year-old, and Ferguson pulled out a gun and fired it into the ground, sending the teens running and screaming.
No one was seriously hurt.
The boy and one other teen were arrested but Ferguson was not, fueling the anger of hundreds of protesters who took to the streets in the nights that followed. Dozens were arrested after blocking traffic.
In one of the videos, posted on YouTube and spread on social media, Ferguson said he had heard the boy say he was going to "shoot" him, but the teen insists he said he was going to "sue" him.
Ferguson's attorney Larry Hanna has said Ferguson feared for his own and his sick father's safety because of the teens, who he had reported to police before.
Ferguson was pulled from the street and put on desk duty for the LAPD at the time. It's not clear what his current status is.
Police have not released the boy's name because he is a minor.
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