Wild footage captured the moment a smart alec was arrested by cops after refusing to follow their instructions.
The bizarre incident unfolded at Malvern Police Station in south-east Melbourne 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 he was happy to ‘serve him’, but asked that he turn off the camera.
‘Even though it was just us two in here? You guys wear bodycams,’ the man said.
The officer reminded him it 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 he was happy to oblige as long as he followed instructions.
The video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter opened with the man filming his conversation with a police officer behind the counter at Malvern police station
The man filming the video said he was doing a ‘pressure test’ of the police car tyres and was allowed to touch them as they are ‘public property’
‘The law says I can record in public. I’m trying to record my government,’ the man said, stubbornly.
The officer attempted again to explain it was a condition of entry, before the man demanded he tell him his name and badge number.
Moments later, the man was outside the police station checking the tyre pressure of the police cars.
‘Don’t touch the police cars,’ an officer said through a second-storey window.
‘Don’t touch them.’
‘I’m allowed to touch them, mate,’ the man responded.
‘They’re public property, mate.’
The officer informed the man that police cars were not public property – but the smart alec refused to listen.
‘It’s public property mate… It’s public property ok? I’m doing a pressure test,’ he said.
He asked again for the officer’s badge number and said the officer refused to give it to him.
‘I’m gonna check the cars mate… check ’em all. This one’s a bit flat,’ he said, pointing the camera to one of the tyres.
The man was then seen back inside the police station where the police officer accused him of ‘tampering with a motor vehicle’.
‘I saw you kicking a police car,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t kicking them. I was doing a pressure test on the tyres. I’m allowed to touch the tyres,’ the man replied.
The officer asked for the man’s identification before coming out from behind the counter and telling the man to step outside.
‘I’m not going anywhere, mate. I gotta get that constable’s badge number,’ the man said.
Another officer emerged from the counter.
After a lengthy exchange 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, mate. I’m not tampering, You got no evidence. I was doing a pressure test like a mechanic mate.’
‘So you were touching the police car?’ an officer said.
‘I’m allowed to touch the public property!’ the man said.
The screen then went black as an officer was heard off-camera telling the man he was ‘under arrest for tampering with a police car’.
‘Do you understand that?’ he asked.
Social media users were quick to ridicule the smart alec – poking fun at the post that described him as an ‘independent journalist’.
‘That journalist/mechanic is nuts. He needs a psychiatrist asap,’ one wrote.
‘“Journalist” sounds like a pest,’ another wrote.
