Australia: Victoria police sure have got their priorities right

Man claims he was fined $200 for emptying water bottle

A MAN claiming he was fined more than $200 for pouring half a bottle of water on the street says he will fight the penalty.

Truckie Michael Hagen, from Berwick, says he had no idea he was doing anything wrong when he emptied the bottle while pulling up at a Melbourne CBD intersection on Wednesday afternoon.

But moments later Mr Hagen was pulled over and handed an infringement notice for littering.

"I still to this day don't know if what I did was breaking the law. "I didn't even know what I was doing was wrong. It didn't even enter my mind actually," Mr Hagen said.

He said he stopped at the Clarendon St intersection when he poured the bottle's warm contents from the driver's side of the car onto the bitumen before driving off.

He was then pulled over near Crown Casino for what he thought he was a routine check. "I thought they were going to give me a breathalyser or a general check, but they gave me an infringement notice for littering," Mr Hagen said.

"They said: 'You poured a liquid substance out of the window.' I said: 'It's water.' They said: 'How do we know it's water? It could be anything'."

He said it was over-the-top policing and he planned to fight the fine in court. "I was a little bit animated. I wasn't very happy, especially when they gave me a ticket. I wasn't impressed. "They should be paying attention to people jaywalking across the road, that's my concern," Mr Hagen said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said they were tracking details of the offence yesterday and wouldn't comment.

Original report here. (Via Australian police news)




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