Wild footage captured the moment police arrested a know-it-all after he refused to follow their instructions.
The bizarre incident unfolded at Malvern police station in Melbourne’s southeast last year and the video went viral on social media platform X on Sunday.
The man entered the police station and the officer behind the counter informed him that he was happy to “serve him” but asked him to turn off the camera.
‘Even though it was just the two of us here? “You guys wear body cameras,” the man said.
The officer reminded him that 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 responded.
The man told the officer he had to provide the service, prompting the officer to reiterate that he was happy to do so as long as he followed instructions.
The video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, began with the man filming his conversation with a police officer behind the counter at Malvern police station.
The man who recorded the video said he was doing a “pressure test” on the police car’s tires and was allowed to touch them because they are “public property.”
‘The law says I can record in public. “I’m trying to put my government on record,” the man said, stubbornly.
The officer again tried to explain that it was a condition of entry, before the man demanded that he tell him his name and badge number.
Moments later, the man was outside the police station checking the tire pressure of the police cars.
“Don’t touch the police cars,” an officer said through a second-story window.
“Don’t touch them.”
“I can touch them, friend,” the man replied.
“They’re public property, buddy.”
The officer informed the man that police cars were not public property, but the know-it-all refused to listen.
‘It’s public property my friend… It’s public property, okay? “I’m doing a pressure test,” he said.
He asked for the officer’s badge number again and said the officer refused to give it to him.
‘I’m going to check the cars, man… 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 inside the police station, where the officer charged him with “tampering with a motor vehicle.”
“I saw you kicking a police car,” he said.
‘I wasn’t kicking them. I was doing a tire pressure test. “I can touch the tires,” the man replied.
The officer asked for the man’s identification before coming out from behind the counter and telling him to come out.
‘I’m not going anywhere, friend. “I have to get that officer’s badge number,” the man said.
Another officer left the counter.
After a long exchange with police officers, the man was arrested for tampering with a police vehicle.
“He refused to give me his license plate number,” the man said.
‘Don’t touch me, friend. I’m not manipulating, you have no proof. I was doing a pressure test as a fellow mechanic.
“So you were touching the police car?” an officer said.
‘I’m allowed to touch public property!’ said the man.
The screen then went black as an off-camera officer was heard telling the man he was “under arrest for tampering with a police car.”
‘Do you understand that?’ asked.
Social media users were quick to ridicule the know-it-all, mocking the post that described him as a “freelance journalist.”
‘That journalist/mechanic is crazy. He needs a psychiatrist ASAP,” one wrote.
““Journalist” sounds like a plague,” wrote another.