SAN DIEGO -- The family of a San Diego policeman charged in the off-duty shooting of a woman and her 8-year-old son said Friday the officer and his wife were victims of road rage and called on authorities to drop the charges against him.

Frank White faces a felony count of gross negligent discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury in the March 15 shooting of Rachel and Johnny Silva outside an Oceanside home-improvement store.

The District Attorney's Office also charged White, 28, with a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a gun.

White's wife, Jacquellyn -- herself a police dispatcher with the Carlsbad Police Department -- was with her husband when the traffic dispute and shooting took place.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Jacquellyn White's two sisters and father told reporters they kept quiet because they thought justice would be served and were sure Rachel Silva would be found to be the aggressor and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

"We believed Frank would be vindicated. We were wrong," said Jacquellyn White's oldest sister, Shanon Buckingham, reading from a prepared statement.

"We have stood by silently as two honest, law-abiding public servants have had their lives destroyed by Rachel Leann Silva," Buckingham said. "We can sit silently and wait no longer. We see no other alternative than to be the voice of our family."

She said her family wanted to set the record straight on what really happened that night.

"Rachel Silva was the aggressor – the 'road-rager' -- not Frank," Buckingham alleged. "This was a random act of violence."

She said Frank and Jacquellyn White were on their way to the grocery store when they were confronted by the 27-year-old allegedly drunken woman.

Buckingham said the couple had reason to fear for their lives because Silva, according to the Oceanside police account of events of that night, cut off their car, chased them into a parking lot, screamed and cursed at them, revved her engine, "squealed" her tires, threatened them with her car and ultimately rammed into them.

His family contends White identified himself as a police officer and ordered Silva to stop, to no avail, leaving him with no other choice than firing his gun in self-defense to protect himself and his wife.

According to Buckingham, White didn't know Silva's son was in the car when he fired his weapon.

The family suggested that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis filed criminal charges against White for political reasons, in the wake of the public outcry over the shooting of Chargers linebacker Steve Foley by an off-duty Coronado police officer.

"She's trying to make up for not doing something in that case," said another of Jacquellyn White's sisters, Burgundy Fletcher.

A spokesman for Dumanis said she would have no comment on the allegation.

Silva was charged by the state Attorney General's Office with felony child endangerment and five misdemeanor counts, including two counts of driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and a revoked license, and driving while in possession of marijuana.

The woman -- who has two DUI convictions from last year -- faces up to six years in state prison if convicted, said Supervising Deputy Attorney General Jim Dutton.

Silva will be allowed to remain free on her own recognizance as long as she stays in a drug rehabilitation facility.

A declaration filed in support of an arrest warrant alleged that Silva, by engaging in the traffic-related confrontation with White on the evening of March 15, "willfully put her son ... under circumstances likely to produce great bodily injury or death."

Silva's blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.15 percent -- nearly twice the legal limit for driving -- after the road-rage incident, according to the document.

White was not tested for alcohol because he showed no signs of intoxication, investigators have said.

After a meeting with the District Attorney's Office, it was decided that the state Attorney General's Office would handle the case against Silva and the District Attorney's Office would look into whether to charge the off-duty officer, Dutton said.

The dispute between Silva and White grew out of a near-collision between her 1991 Honda Accord and his Mercury sedan on Old Grove Road in Oceanside.

Silva, whose son was in the front passenger seat of her car, pulled out of a gas station driveway into the path of White's vehicle shortly after 9 p.m., prompting the officer to swerve to avoid a crash, according to Oceanside police. She then allegedly followed White down the street, tailgating him, revving her engine and shouting.

He pulled over in a nearby parking area outside a Lowe's store, and Silva pulled up alongside, continuing to shout at him, according to police. She then allegedly backed up and sideswiped White's car, at which point he fired five rounds.

The first shot went through the tinted front passenger window of Silva's car -- next to the seat where her son was sitting -- and the others pierced the windshield.

The woman suffered two bullet wounds to her right arm, and the boy was treated for two gunshot wounds to his left leg.

White and his wife were uninjured.

"This incident could have been a lot worse, and we want everyone to know how proud we are of Frank," his father-in-law, Randy Gregg, told reporters.

"He didn't do anything wrong. He saved his own life and the life of our sister and daughter. We are very grateful to him for that. Frank is our family's hero."

The White family has established a Web site, www.thetruthaboutfrank.com, because they "want people to know that he didn't do anything wrong," Fletcher said. "He did what he had to do."

Silva has insisted that she did nothing that could justify what she called the "attempted murder" of her and her son at the hands of the officer.

She has filed a claim against the city of San Diego, seeking unspecified damages. The boy's father, a Camp Pendleton Marine who is divorced from Silva, also has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming, among other things, that the San Diego Police Department failed to properly screen and train White.

White, who is free on his own recognizance, is on unpaid leave from the SDPD. His preliminary hearing is scheduled Nov. 5 at the Vista Courthouse.

San Diego police Chief William Lansdowne said his department will conduct an internal review to decide whether White's alleged offenses merit some type of employment reprimand or termination. The process will take 30 to 90 days, according to Lansdowne.