A viral video shows a man refusing to follow a police officer's commands to put down his hands and turn off his car. He says disobeying them saved his life.

An Arkansas man who filmed his own arrest said that disobeying the police officer who told him to put his hands down likely saved his life.

Ed Truitt, who was reportedly arrested Sunday on charges of loitering, failing to comply with an officer, resisting arrest, and possessing a weapon, told the local CBS affiliate WREG that he became afraid when the police surrounded his car in a parking lot and drew their guns on him.

"Played it safe," Truitt said. "He was like, 'That's a failure to comply,' but if I would have complied, I would have got killed."

The video shows Truitt with his hands reaching out of his car window as an officer repeatedly tells him to turn off his car. An officer can also be heard yelling, "He's got a gun!"

"Where? My hands in the air!" Truitt replies. "I ain't moving my hands. He's trying to shoot me."

The officer can be heard replying that he's not going to shoot Truitt, but Truitt says he doesn't believe him.

"You telling me to shut my car off so you can shoot me. Come on now," he says in the video.

The Helena-West Helena Police Department released the officer's body-camera footage days after the video went viral. Chief James Smith told WREG that the officer in the video was on leave pending an internal investigation and that he'd asked the Arkansas State Police to assist.

The police and Truitt have said a rifle was in the car during the encounter, but Truitt told WREG it wasn't within his reach.

"It was in the back seat or whatever," he said. "I wasn't trying to grab my gun."

Smith also told WREG that Truitt did own the rifle legally but that it shouldn't have been on the car's seat.