A white police officer who drew his gun on a black man cleaning up trash in front of a Boulder, Colorado house has been placed on administrative leave amid community and social media uproar.

The March 1 morning incident happened while the civilian was tidying up his own yard with a bucket and another trash tool that the officer appears to have mistaken for a possible weapon.

A viral cellphone video of the incident, taken by another person who lives in the same building, has sparked anger over perceived racial profiling in Boulder, home to the University of Colorado. Boulder police have launched an internal investigation.

The man was not arrested, but the Boulder chapter of the NAACP and other groups have planned a march on Sunday to protest the incident.

The roughly 16-minute video begins with one police officer on scene and a heated exchange already underway. Several other officers soon arrive. The man, who is holding a trash clamp and a bucket, tells them throughout that he's a student who works and lives at the property and is picking up trash. He has already provided the officer a student identification when the video begins.

"You're on my property with a gun in your hand threatening to shoot me because I'm picking up trash," the man, who has not been publicly identified, says. "You're not going to get away with murder. Not today.

"I don't have a weapon. This is a bucket. This is a clamp."

The man taking the video is heard vouching for the man: "Go home! This is ridiculous! What am I watching?"

The officer, whose named has not been released by the police department, has been placed on leave until the conclusion of the investigation, which is expected to take between 60 and 90 days.

Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa addressed the incident at the Boulder City Council on Tuesday. He said the investigation will look at "all information available." He said that includes interviews with all parties involved as well as footage from the officer's body-worn cameras in addition to the video already publicized and circulating on social media.

"This is an extremely concerning issue and one that we are taking very seriously," Testa said.

The video shows that the officer keeps his hand near his hip despite the man's explanation of what he's doing. The officer dispatches for help and is soon joined by what appears to be seven other officers. The officer first on scene asks the man to sit down, "just relax" and "drop the weapon." The man initially refuses, saying that it's his property.

"You have a gun in your hand," the man, visibly upset and yelling, tells the officer.

"Yes I do because you're not listening," the officer says. "Drop the weapon. Drop it."

"I don't have a weapon!" the man responds.

The encounter at first escalates when the other officers arrive to try to intervene. The man yells expletives as he tells the officers that he won't sit down and that they don't have the right to confront him.

Eventually he puts down the trash clamp. The officer then puts the gun back in his holster. The incident cools down with help from the property's director of facilities who arrives on the scene. He tells the man that "it's likely you've got profiled" but to take it up later. Officers soon leave the area.

Explaining how the incident started, police say the officer observed a man "sitting in a partially enclosed patio area" directly behind a "Private Property" sign and that he initiated contact with the man to determine if he was allowed to be on the property.

After finding the man uncooperative and unwilling to put down a "blunt object," police say the officer made a radio request for assistance. Police agree that the man was holding an item used to pick up trash.

Police say officers returned the man's identification after determining he had a right to be on the property.

"While it appears the officers responding to the request for back-up followed standard procedures given the information they heard over the radio, all aspects of this incident, specifically the actions of the initial officer, are being investigated," Testa said.

As part of the internal investigation, a six-member professional standards panel will review findings and make recommendations to the chief of police.

Testa told the city council that the body-worn cameras indicate only one officer had a gun out, and that it was pointed at the ground, rejecting any suggestion that guns were pointed at the man.

"I'm not making excuses. I'm just trying to provide some needed context in regards to that specific aspect."