A Margate police officer is awaiting punishment after an internal affairs investigation determined he pointed his pistol at a fellow cop while uttering a vague threat.

Officials said Officer Paul Lindeman aimed his .40-caliber Glock at Officer Eric Womer and told him to "give me a reason." Other officers who witnessed the episode say they neglected to report it because they didn't want to be a "rat," thought Lindemen was joking, or were intimidated by him.

Witnesses were also unclear about when the incident actually happened: Sometime between September 2013 and this past March, they said.

A police spokesman said a decision about Lindeman's punishment has yet to be made. The investigation was only completed this week and made public Thursday.

According to three police witnesses, Lindeman and Womer were among a group on a meal break at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. Womer was preparing food and Lindeman was lying on a couch. One of the officers was alarmed to see a red dot on Womer's back and immediately recognized it as a pistol's laser target. "That's not [expletive] cool," the witness said.

Hearing that, Womer turned around and put his hands in the air, according to the witness.

"Give me a reason," Lindeman taunted, according to one witness.

"Go ahead, bro … if you're going to do it, just do it," another witness recalled Womer saying.

Lindeman then said, "You're not worth it," the report recounted, and holstered his weapon.

Womer was not wearing his bullet-proof vest, which investigators said "further exacerbates the carelessness of this act."

According to investigators, Womer didn't report the incident because he feared he'd be labeled a "rat" who cost a fellow cop his job. The others said they were afraid of Lindeman, or thought the whole incident was horseplay.

Lindeman told investigators he pointed his Glock in Womer's "general direction," but not directly at him. "He also characterized his remarks that night by describing them as a joke," the report stated.

A union representative told investigators Lindeman, 34, has learned from the incident and has promised not to do it again. He has been with the department since 2003.

Investigators concluded Lindeman didn't commit workplace violence because there was no intent to do so. But they found him guilty of violating three other department rules, including weapon safety protocols, weapon handling and conduct unbecoming an officer.

The report faulted Lindeman for having "a negligent disregard" for Womer's safety and "for bringing discredit upon himself and the Margate Police Department for perpetrating a careless act that could result in unintended consequences in the form of injury or death to a co-worker."