A ranger's interaction with an off-trail couple at Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico that ended with a 31-year-old Native American man being being shot with a stun gun is being investigated by the National Park Service.

The incident occurred Sunday when the unidentified ranger approached the man, initially identified as Jerald Humphrey, and his female companion to ask them to return to the marked trail they had left.

"This is not a big deal, this is a simple warning," said the ranger, whose body camera captured the 9-minute interaction.

While the ranger explained that it was job to protect the monument because it is considered sacred to tribes, and noted that there had been past issues with graffiti, the man responded that, "We don't do that." 

The ranger told the couple that he just needed their names so he could check to see if they previously had been warned about going off trail in the monument, but the man said he wasn't going to provide that information. His companion did provide their names, which the National Park Service later said were fictitious.

"You don't need my identification, sir," the man told the ranger. "Native Americans and the goverment and the law don't mesh well, you know that."

The man, who later identified himself to news reporters as Darrell House, walked away while the ranger contacted the monument's dispatch center to run a check on the names he was given. When the ranger caught up to the couple, who were now back on a trail, the man again refused to answer the ranger's questions.

"So, let me get this straight, you'd like to escalate this contact by refusing to identify yourself, and then in which case you're going to be detained until I can ID you?" the ranger asked. 

As the man walked away, the ranger followed him, asking that he stop or he risked being "tased." The ranger then asked the man to give his small dog to his companion. 

"My dog ain't going anywhere," replied the man, who had picked up the small dog.

"Sir, please give her the dog," the ranger said.

"My dog ain't going anywhere," the man again replied.

"OK, here's what I need you to do. Stop right now sir. Stop walking. Stop walking or you may be tased. Stop walking," the ranger said.

While the man stood holding his dog, the ranger could be seen aiming his Taser at the man. The man refused to give his companion the dog and started yelling "help," at which point the ranger shot him with the stun gun.

In a statement Tuesday evening, the National Park Service said the matter would be investigated by "the NPS Office of Professional Responsibility, our internal affairs unit, for a thorough investigation."

"That investigation will include interviews with the officers, those involved, and any other witnesses who were in the area at the time of the incident," the statement added. "Investigators will also review the video captured by one of the individuals and later posted to social media, as well as the body worn camera footage worn by the NPS law enforcement officer.  

The statement also said the man had been cited "for being in a closed area off trail, providing false information and failing to comply with a lawful order. The female individual received citations for providing false information and being in a closed area off trail."  

House told New Mexico news station KRQE that the ranger instigated the incident because he wanted to demonstrate "Power, dominance. To keep me in order. That's what authorities have been trained to do, to keep people like me in order, to make the Indian look crazy, make them look insane."

The man said he heads to the monument to pray, and that he would continue to do so.

"I am going to continue doing my prayers, going off trail, without permission, without consent, because that's my right," he told the station.