SANTA ANA – An off-duty LAPD officer “endangered the safety” of a group of Anaheim teenagers during a neighborhood scuffle nearly a year ago, but there isn’t enough evidence to charge him with a crime, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.

The confrontation between Kevin Ferguson and a 13-year-old boy on Feb. 21, 2017 quickly drew widespread attention after videos of the altercation spread across social media. The videos show Ferguson struggling with the teen before discharging his handgun into the ground.

During a Wednesday news conference, prosecutors said they were unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ferguson didn’t have the right to detain the 13-year-old as part of a citizen’s arrest, or that the officer used excessive force.

But the prosecutors sharply and repeatedly criticized the officer’s actions.

“What Mr. Ferguson did was unwise, was immature, no question about that,” Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said. “It endangered and terrified a 13-year-old child. It endangered the safety of a bunch of students.”

“It is a situation that came up that is unfortunate, that should never have happened, and we are not happy this occurred,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas added.

Ferguson’s attorney, John Christl, said he was pleased with the DA’s decision.

“We feel that Mr. Ferguson was placed in a position – with the threats, the large crowd that gathered around him, individuals throwing punches, yelling, reaching into pockets – that he was in fear for his safety,” Christl said.

The attorney declined to comment on the criticisms of his client’s actions made by prosecutors.

The situation began with Ferguson confronting four juveniles who were walking home from school about going through his front yard, an ongoing irritation for the off-duty officer, Baytieh said.

“Mr. Ferguson confronted a female as she walked in his front yard and called her a very vulgar and derogatory name, a name most people would tell you you should never call a female, particularly a 13-year-old child,” Baytieh said.

The 13-year-old boy, who was part of the group, told Ferguson that, as Baytieh put it, he “should not treat a young woman in this manner.” Ferguson and the boy got into a verbal argument: Ferguson apparently believed the boy threatened to “shoot” him if touched, but the boy replied no, he said he would “sue.”

Cell-phone and surveillance video show Ferguson following after the 13-year-old and grabbing him. The boy struggles to free himself.

(Warning: Foul language in video)

Ferguson gets the boy to the ground. He holds him in a “partial rear chokehold,” Baytieh said, and at another point he kicks the 13-year-old in the groin.

About 14 students eventually gather, some urging the officer to let the boy go and to stop choking him.

One student calmly walks up to Ferguson and the boy and puts his hands on both of them to try and separate them, video shows. Another student runs up to Ferguson, knocking the off-duty officer and the 13-year-old over a hedge, and punches the officer in the face.

Another boy jumps over the hedge and approaches Ferguson, his hands behind his back while he put away what prosecutors say turned out to be a pencil. Ferguson pulls a gun out of his back pocket, video shows, then fires one shot downward as the kids scatter.

Baytieh said Ferguson told an arriving Anaheim officer that, in the off-duty officer’s words, he had “popped one into the ground as a warning shot.” Ferguson declined to answer any questions from Anaheim or DA investigators.

Baytieh said that at least once Ferguson said he was a police officer; students are heard on video debating that.

In their evaluation, prosecutors said they did not treat Ferguson as a “police officer doing something under color of authority.” The only time Ferguson’s status as a police officer came into play during the investigation was related to his right to carry a concealed weapon, Baytieh said.

Rackauckas noted that dealing with kids stepping on your lawn is part of living near a school, and the district attorney said “going out and yelling at the kids, threatening them, is not good behavior.” He also said that, based on video, it doesn’t appear the initial four children did anything wrong.

“They certainly aren’t convinced, in their mind, that Mr. Ferguson has a right to detain this kid,” Rackauckas said. “Their behavior, given the circumstances, is restrained.”

Several days after the confrontation, a protest involving as many as 300 people in the neighborhood converted into chaos, resulting in two dozen arrests.

Anaheim Sgt. Daron Wyatt said neighbors who live in the neighborhood where the confrontation took place were warned Wednesday morning that a decision had been reached about whether to charge Ferguson. Wyatt noted that additional patrols would be in the neighborhood.

Anaheim police spent several hundred hours during their investigation of the case, which was handed over to the District Attorney’s Office in June. Officers did more than 90 interviews, viewed various videos and collected other evidence, ending up with more than 400 pages in reports and about 70 CDs and DVDs.

“We didn’t like what we saw in the video, either, but the (legal) process played out,” Wyatt said. “What we all saw is not the Anaheim we know and love. … If people are upset, they can voice their displeasure, but they have to do so in a lawful manner.”

Ferguson will remain on paid leave until the internal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department concludes, said Officer Luis Garcia, an agency spokesman. He said he did not have information on when that probe would be completed.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents sworn LAPD officers, said the District Attorney’s Office made the proper call by not filing any criminal charge.

“Our officer took steps to protect himself when he was physically attacked by multiple individuals, including one who appeared to be concealing a sharp object that could be used as a weapon,” the group’s board said in a statement. “Regardless of the attacker’s age, police officers have the right and duty to protect themselves and the public when they come under attack.”

The teen has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the LAPD officer and the city of Anaheim, saying he feared for his life during the confrontation and that he was traumatized when Anaheim officers failed to arrest Ferguson, instead taking him to juvenile hall on the citizen’s arrest before being released. The boy was never charged with a crime.