Queensland’s police commissioner has apologised to law-abiding motorcyclists after a video released by a rider
who claimed he’d been pulled over 21 times
Jamie Edward Evans posted online footage of police quizzing him about his clothes, associations, friends and line of work after he was pulled over at a Brisbane service station.
He says he’s been pulled over 21 times since the crackdown began, and there’s nothing criminal about his membership of a social rider group called the Misfits.
The footage has been viewed more than 246,000 times since it was posted on social media on Saturday.
On Monday, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart again apologised if any recreational riders had been inconvenienced but said the video showed "a good level of respect on both sides, and a very professional intercept”.
"Some good people in the community, including recreational motorcyclists, are going to be inconvenienced and I’m sorry if that’s happened to Jamie,” Mr Stewart told ABC radio.
A photo of Misfits motorcycle member Jamie Evans from his Facebook page. (Facebook)
He said most people in the community supported the crackdown.
Mr Evans uploaded the video on Saturday before taking to Facebook and claiming the footage shows him being “detained” and “harassed” at a Beenleigh petrol station.
The 10-minute video shows several police questioning Mr Evans after he allegedly failed to produce his licence when first intercepted.
Another officer then asks Mr Evans: "Before you said you hate police. Any reason you hate police?" to which Mr Evans replies, "’Cause you’ve pulled me over 21 times for no reason."
"I’ve got no respect for cops," Mr Evans repeats.
A female officer then questions the rider’s attire, asking him why he is wearing a leather vest while it "is 30 degrees outside" and to describe what patches are on the vest.
At first Mr Evans side-steps the question and tells the officer to "read them" herself, leading her to identify that he is a member of the Misfits social motorcycle club.
On his Facebook, Mr Evans, 45, wrote that he was detained for "close on an hour" without any charges being laid.
"They asked for my license (sic) and I asked if they could wait until I finished filling up. I went in and paid for fuel and when I came back out was confronted with five cop cars and 10 cops which (sic) detained me for license, breath test and vehicle compliance. A sixth car turned up to issue me with a drug test," Mr Evans wrote.
Disparaging remarks about police and the Queensland Government’s crackdown on bikie gangs also appear on his Facebook page.
Newman claims he does not like the laws
The action came as Queensland Premier Campbell Newman made the admission he doesn’t like his own government’s tough anti-bikie laws.
But he says they’re necessary for now and must, by law, be reviewed within three years of their introduction.
"The parliament has to look at these laws (within three years) and decide if they should still be there," Mr Newman told 4BC Radio on Monday.
"I don’t particularly like them. That may surprise you. I have said this to a few journalists and various editors … I’ve said, ‘I don’t particularly like having to do this’."