Aussies have been left divided after footage emerged of a driver clashing with a no-nonsense police officer at the site of a crash.
The driver had cut to the front of a queue of traffic that had formed following a car accident on Ian Street at Noble Park, in south-east Melbourne, on Saturday.
The other drivers had cautiously merged lanes metres away from the crash site, however the driver had pushed ahead and switched at the last moment.
A police officer coordinating traffic past the crash site was heard in dascham footage slapping the side of the Toyota Crown and scolding the driver.
‘Are you a f***ing idiot? the cop asked. ‘I saw you come down the inside lane like an idiot.’
The driver shared several videos of his heated conversation with the police officer after he got out of the car.
In one clip, the motorist began claiming the officer had ‘smacked’ his car before he pulled over.
‘Yeah, I did,’ the officer responded.
A Melbourne motorist has accused police of ‘power tripping’ after an escalated roadside argument stemmed from a driver trying to undercut traffic in an empty lane
‘What the hell is your reason for driving up there?’
The officer claimed there was an earlier incident marked on the driver’s record which was more serious than the most recent one.
‘There’s a field contact here, because you’ve pulled that s*** before: 150[km/h]. You’re a bloody P–plater.’
In the next clip, the driver could be heard telling the policeman: ‘You’re just a guy with a badge mate.’
The officer then asked the driver to submit to alcohol and drug tests.
‘Any time, any day, lad. Any time, any day,’ the motorist said before blowing into the device.
‘I know when to stop, mate,’ he added after the officer took the breath test away.
‘Must be an expert if you’re being pulled over that often,’ the policeman replied.
The officer and motorist then faced off on the side of the road waging a war of words
A third video showed the officer waiting for the drug test to return a result, leaning on the back of the Toyota.
‘Don’t smack my car, lad,’ the driver said.
‘I’ll do what I want,’ the fed-up officer replied.
‘Without your badge you couldn’t do s*** like that, mate. Without your badge you couldn’t do s*** like that,’ the driver said.
The policeman started leaving for his car.
‘I’m going to write up your infringement, you can wait,’ he said.
‘What was it? What was it? What was it?’ the driver asked, running up to the test.
‘Negative,’ the officer said.
Social media users were divided with some saying the driver should have acted more cautiously on the road.
‘We need more cops like this,’ one said.
‘I couldn’t care less if it’s in an industrial area but in the middle of the day with traffic on a main road is dumb,’ another wrote.
‘Only takes 1 mistake and he’ll end up hurting himself or someone else. There’s kids in peoples cars imagine taking a family’s loved one cause you wanted to seem “cool”.’
Some viewers accused the officer of being ‘rude’ and ‘power tripping’, but most said they felt sorry for the behaviour police have to deal with.
‘Why’s he talking in capitals?’ one viewer asked about the officer’s raised voice.
‘Nowadays, people have no respect for authority in any way. That is what’s wrong with the world today,’ another said.
‘Do the right thing! You are just putting hate out there, when you do need the police are you going to treat them the same. Two faced,’ a third added.
The driver told Daily Mail Australia has was ‘annoyed’ at the behaviour of the cop.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Victoria Police for comment.
