PHOENIX – Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams has fired the officer involved in a viral cellphone video showing him threatening to shoot at a family.

The video, recorded by a bystander on May 27, shows Phoenix Officer Christopher Meyer pointing a gun at a car occupied by Dravon Ames, his pregnant fiancee, Iesha Harper, and their children.

In the video, Meyer can be heard yelling, "You're going to get (expletive) shot" when Ames didn't immediately open his vehicle's door. The officer also told Ames, "I'm going to put a cap in your ass."

A second officer, whom police did not identify, received a written reprimand. Williams said the officer was trying to de-escalate the situation.

The announcement of Meyer's firing in a news conference Tuesday came at the same time Phoenix police announced the firing of Clinton David Swick after an unrelated investigation into his Facebook posts.

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The Plain View Project, launched by Philadelphia-based lawyer Emily Baker-White, created a database of public Facebook posts and comments made by current and former police officers from several jurisdictions across the United States. The posts endorsed violence in some cases against Mexicans, Muslims, women and criminal defendants.

Earlier Tuesday, Phoenix police also announced it had fired Sgt. Daniel B. Jones in a separate unrelated internal affairs investigation.

"No chief ever wants to discuss discipline, like this in a public format," Williams said. "I expect my officers to be respectful, to be professional, to be courteous, and that is not what happened in (these) cases."

The officers have the right to appeal the decision.

'Suspension is just not sufficient'

Williams said the Police Department's Disciplinary Review Board recommended Meyer receive a 240-hour unpaid suspension for his actions in the police stop.

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But, she said, this wasn't enough.

Ultimately, the police chief decides what kind of punishment an officer receives if investigators find wrongdoing.

"I have notified him of my intention to terminate his employment," Williams said. "A 240-hour suspension is just not sufficient to reverse the adverse effects of his actions on our department, and our community."

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Williams said she didn't come to the decision lightly. Meyer has been with the department since 1995.

"I will say this, it was difficult for both of us. For me to make the decision, and for him to take the call," she said.

For the second officer involved in the stop, Williams said, the disciplinary board recommended he receive a written reprimand. Williams agreed.

'This is partial justice for my clients'

Tom Horne, who is representing Ames and Harper, had filed a $10 million claim against Phoenix.

“This is partial justice for my clients. To get full justice, the job is now mine to get it for them with compensation in the lawsuit," Horne said in a news conference.

Horne, a former Arizona attorney general, said he has always been a supporter of the police. But, he said, it's important that those who are tarnishing the profession be held accountable.

“I think the vast majority of police are fine public servants. In any group, whether it’s lawyers, journalists or anybody else, you get some bad apples," Horne said. "And it’s my job to be sure that justice is done when we do get these bad apples.”

Ames said he also welcomed the decision, saying he hopes this sends a message to officers not to treat others the way Meyer treated him and his family. He said the incident has left his family traumatized.

“It’s been real bad. It’s hard to get over that type of stuff," he said. "It was a very tragic and traumatizing moment. So to know that he’s been fired is some type of little relief, but there’s still a lot to work on.”

Union denounces Williams' decision while advocacy group applauds it

The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the Phoenix police union that represents the department's rank and file, posted on Facebook that it doesn't agree with Williams' decisions to fire Meyer and Swick.

"PLEA has a complete understanding of the position Chief Jeri Williams is in as the leader of the Phoenix Police Department and as an appointed employee of the City of Phoenix," the statement said. "PLEA is dedicated to its members, and we ensure that we carry our members’ interests through until the end of all the processes that encompass employment with the City of Phoenix."

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Poder in Action, a Maryvale-based advocacy group that has been critical of Phoenix police's use of force, applauded Williams' decision to fire Meyer.

"Community made this happen! Without the pressure and bystander video, Christopher Meyer would still be on our streets," the group stated on Facebook. "If he has (the) audacity to appeal to the civil service board for his job, we gotta make sure he doesn’t get rehired."

The viral stop

The couple said the incident stemmed from an anonymous call to police that their daughter stole a doll from a Family Dollar store – something the family says was an accident.

Ames said they were dropping off their daughter at the babysitter's apartment when an officer stopped them. He said the officers didn't use lights or sirens before they walked over to the parked car carrying Ames, Harper and their two daughters, ages 4 and 1.

"Next thing you know, a police officer ... comes up, open the door, banging on the window with a gun, saying he's gonna shoot us in the face, telling us to get out of the car," Ames said at a news conference.

In a video recorded by a resident of the apartment complex, officers can be heard yelling and cursing at the couple.

Meyer then goes to the back driver's side door, but could not open it because it was malfunctioning, the notice of claim detailed. He bangs on the window and tells Harper, who was pregnant and holding her 1-year-old, to open the door and put her hands up. She tells him it wouldn't open and that her hands were up.

A second officer then comes up to the front seat of the car with his gun drawn and points his weapon at Ames, according to the notice of claim. The officer pulls Ames out of the car.

Another video starts with Ames lying flat on the pavement as a Phoenix police officer handcuffs him. Ames is then pulled off the ground and pressed up against a police car before the officer kicks out one of his legs. Ames is handcuffed at this time.

"He told the father to spread his legs, which the father did," the notice of claim the family filed with the city detailed. "The officer kicked him in the right leg so hard that the father collapsed, and then the officer yanked him back up. He kept his knee between the father’s legs. He punched the father very hard in the back for no reason."

Harper and her two daughters then step out of the car. One of the officers attempts to grab one of the daughters from Harper while he's trying to take the mother into custody. She refuses to follow the officer's orders to place the baby on the pavement, which was hot.

The family said the baby was injured when the officer pulled her by the arm. Harper ultimately handed the baby off to a resident of the apartment complex.

Ames was kept in the back of a police car for 30 minutes and Harper for 15. Ames told the officers he owned the car when questioned if he stole it. They were released after another lieutenant came and defused the situation, according to the claim. Neither Ames nor Harper was charged in connection with the incident.

The officers were not wearing body cameras.

"Our officers are dispatched 1,800 times each day when our community needs us, and 99% of the time we get it right," Williams said at the news conference. "But when we don't, it does come at a cost. Nearly 4,000 other members of the Phoenix Police Department must bear the burden of that failed contact with our community members."

Follow Uriel Garcia on Twitter: @ujohnnyg

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police officer involved in viral arrest video fired