An off-duty police officer has been caught on video dragging a 13-year-old boy on to his property before firing his gun near a group of teenagers.

Footage widely circulated online shows the as-yet unidentified Los Angeles police officer holding on to Christian Dorscht during an apparent dispute with the boy and a number of his friends.

The video appears to indicate the officer believed at least one of the children had walked across his lawn.

The boy is heard saying: “Let go of me for the last time, my dad’s a cop, you know that, my dad’s cop.”

Continuing to hold on to the teenager by his clothing, the officer says: “I don’t care if your dad’s a cop, I’ll explain it to him face to face.”

The boy says: "You don’t talk to a lady like that. You could have said just please get off my lawn. But you didn’t, you were like, ‘get out my lawn you frigging c***'".

The struggle continues for several minutes, with at least one of the teenager's friend's attempting to force the officer to let go.

As he hauls the boy over a hedge into what is apparently his front garden, he fires his pistol, although no one appears to suffer any injury.

A Los Angeles Police Department statement said it was investigating whether “the use of deadly force complied with LAPD’s policies and procedures”

The officer has not yet been arrested but is said to be cooperating with the inquiry.

Police in Anaheim, where the video was filmed at around 2.40pm on Tuesday, said two teenagers had been arrested.

A 13-year-old suspect was detained at Orange County Juvenile Hall for alleged criminal threats and battery.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested for assault and battery but later released to his parents.

Christian's father meanwhile, Johnny, told Orange County Weekly: "I'm pretty p***** off about what happened.

"You could talk to anybody, my son has very good manners. He does good in school and isn't disrespectful or anything like that."

Gun control campaigners release high school romance video that ends in shooting, warning 'know your signs'

"We're going to find legal representation and be suing. This is BS. Even the cops, when they got there, they had all the kids down. They didn't even go after the guy."

Demonstrators allegedly threw rocks and bottles at police, and one person was shot with a beanbag by an officer, according to CBS News, during violent protests over the video near Disneyland in LA last night.

California does not have a so-called Stand Your Ground law, which infamously allowed George Zimmerman to kill Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, but has what is known as the Castle Doctrine of Penal Code Section 198.5.

It allows anyone to use deadly force within their own home if they have a "reasonable fear of imminent peril or great bodily injury".