A prankster using a plastic snake toy on a fishing line to scare passersby copped a literal beating when his joke went wrong – by a passing off-duty police officer.
Sheldon Isitt had accidentally entangled Janice Dewar as she walked through his prank, which was set up at Lake Eildon at North Lakes, in Brisbane.
She turned and told him to ‘p*** off’ before storming away. But when she was out of sight, off-duty Senior Constable Andrew Barrett is seen approaching the man in video obtained by 7 News.
The officer comes up and talks with the prankster, before swinging at him, causing Isitt to fall back.
An off-duty police officer was found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm after punching a prankster twice in the face in Brisbane (pictured)
Barrett, 44, swings again, and though the video tilts towards the ground, Isitt can be seen falling back even farther.
The officer is then seen calmly walking away from the scene of the violence.
He was later convicted of assault occasioning bodily harm but fined only $4,000 for his crime.
Barrett was demoted from Senior Constable to Constable for his actions, but is still believed to be on active duty in the community.
Sheldon Isitt was dragging a plastic snake across a footpath with fishing line for a YouTube video but Janice Dewar became tangled in it
Ms Dewar, who was initially tangled in the prank, says Barrett acted appropriately considering the circumstances.
‘I think he was protecting the community, she told 7 News.
‘I wasn’t the only one who got caught up in it, he was caught up in it first.’
Isitt was initially also found guilty of serious assault after the incident in 2014, and put on a good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded, but later had the charge dropped on appeal.
Ms Dewar said the officer, who received a $4,000 fine and a demotion – but did not lose his job – was simply ‘protecting the community’