WARNING: This video contains explicit language.

CLIFTON --A dashcam recording of a city police officer braking suddenly in the middle of the roadway, and then issuing multiple tickets to the driver behind him has caused an uproar among some residents and triggered an internal affairs probe of the officer involved.

The footage, taken by the driver's dashcam, was posted last week to YouTube by a Clifton resident who identified himself only as Omar B. It shows the officer slamming on his brakes in front of the motorist as he drives north up Van Houten Avenue.

There is nothing in front of the officer when he brakes suddenly, and the officer admits in the recording that he braked only because he felt the motorist behind him was following too closely. As a result, the driver is forced to brake quickly in the middle of the road.

It's a practice known to some as "brake checking."

The driver said he believes the practice is dangerous, especially if there were motorists behind him when the officer slammed on his brakes.

"This cop could have hurt me, himself and anyone else who was behind me that couldn't stop in time," the poster wrote in the video.

Clifton Police Department spokesperson Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken said the matter is being investigated by the department's Internal Affairs officers.

"The Clifton Police Department is aware of the incident," Bracken told NJ Advance Media on Friday. "Internal Affairs matters are confidential, therefore, we will not be commenting on the incident at this time."

Bracken did not disclose the officer's first name or the department's policy on brake checking. Public records identify the officer as Juan Velez, who has been working with the Clifton Police Department since 2005 and makes an annual salary of $119,558.

The footage, which has more than 80,000 views on YouTube, appears to have been taken on March 19 just after 3 p.m. and shows the car's speed varying between 22 and 29 miles per hour.

"How close are you going to drive behind me," an officer tells the motorist after jumping out of the patrol car.

Later, Officer Velez tells the motorist, "I braked because I thought you were going to run into me."

The driver of the 2006 Infiniti M35x, who was traveling at 29 mph before the officer stopped short, was unconvinced that he didn't give the car ahead of him enough room.

"I was like a car length away," the driver tells the officer.

At the end of the traffic stop, Officer Velez issues the driver three summonses: One for lack of a front license plate, one for tailgating and the third for tinted windows, a common summons in New Jersey. Last year, over 47,000 motorists were issued summonses for tinted windows in the garden state.

Since the video, angry posters have flooded the Clifton Police Department Facebook page looking for a response.

"So, what are you going to do about Officer Velez attempting to injure a civilian motorist as punishment for driving too close to his squad car?" wrote one commenter.

In the video, the driver says the incident doesn't affect his opinion of other officers:

"I tried to convey my thoughts accurately in the video, but I don't believe it is being received how I would like it to be received. Again, I am grateful for the police. By no means am I saying that all police officers are uneducated and under-trained. There are plenty of officers who care about what they do, and thus, they are efficient at what they do, and we should be grateful for them providing a safe environment for us. I am not grouping all police officers together."

The poster of the video said his original court date for the summonses was rescheduled from April 8 until April 19. The date was rescheduled again after the poster said he rejected a plea bargain. A trial date has now been set for May 27.

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.