Wild footage captured the moment a smart alec was arrested by police after refusing to follow their instructions.
The bizarre incident took place at Malvern police station in Melbourne’s south-east last year, with the video going viral on social media platform X on Sunday.
The man walked into the police station and the officer behind the counter informed him that he would ‘love to serve him’, but asked him to turn off the camera.
‘Even though it was just the two of us here? You’re wearing body cameras,” the man said.
The officer reminded him that this is a condition of entry and pointed to a sign off camera.
“But that’s not a law,” the man said.
“By law I don’t have to talk to you,” the officer replied.
The man told the officer he had to provide the service, prompting the officer to reiterate that he was happy to help as long as he followed instructions.
The video on X, formerly known as Twitter, started with the man filming his conversation with a police officer behind the counter at Malvern police station.
The man who filmed the video said he was doing a “pressure test” on the tires of the police car and was allowed to touch them because they are “public property.”
‘The law says I can record in public. I’m trying to map out my government,” the man said stubbornly.
The officer again tried to explain that this was a condition of entry, before demanding the man tell him his name and badge number.
A little later the man was standing outside the police station checking the tire pressure of the police cars.
“Don’t touch the police cars,” an officer said through a second-floor window.
“Don’t touch them.”
“I can touch them, buddy,” the man replied.
“They’re public property, buddy.”
The officer informed the man that police cars were not public property, but the smart alec refused to listen.
“It’s public property, buddy… It’s public property, okay? I’m doing a pressure test,” he said.
He again asked for the officer’s badge number and said the officer refused to give it to him.
“I’m going to check the cars, mate…check them all. This one is a little flat,” he said, pointing the camera at one of the tires.
The man was then seen back at the police station, where the police officer charged him with ‘tampering with a motor vehicle’.
“I saw you kick a police car,” he said.
‘I didn’t kick them. I was doing a pressure test on the tires. I can touch the tires,” the man replied.
The officer asked for the man’s identification before coming from behind the counter and telling the man to step outside.
“I’m not going anywhere, buddy. I need that officer’s license plate number,” the man said.
Another officer came out of the counter.
After a lengthy conversation with police officers, the man was arrested for tampering with a police vehicle
“He refused to give me his badge number,” the man said.
“Don’t touch me, buddy. I don’t mess around. You have no proof. I did a pressure test like a mechanic.’
“So you hit the police car?” said an officer.
‘I can touch public land!’ the man said.
The screen then went black as an officer could be heard off camera telling the man he was “under arrest for tampering with a police car.”
“Do you understand?” he asked.
Social media users were quick to ridicule the clever alec, mocking the post which described him as an ‘independent journalist’.
‘That journalist/mechanic is crazy. He needs a psychiatrist ASAP,” one person wrote.
“Journalist” sounds like a tease,” wrote another.