The police are investigating a violent confrontation between a man driving a vehicle at Summernats and a security guard.
In a video filmed from the passenger seat (and circulated on Facebook), an angry guard marches towards the driver. The driver opens the door and starts to get out. From inside the driver's cab, it looks like the driver has been hit from the front by the guard.
The guard is then restrained and a policeman appears. The driver says: "I'd like to press charges on this guy. Police officer, I'd like to press charges."
There is no indication in the video as to what prompted the guard to approach the vehicle.
In reaction to the video, ACT Policing said:
- "ACT Policing is aware of an alleged assault that occurred inside EPIC last weekend.
- Investigations into the incident are ongoing and no arrests have been made at this time.
- No further comment will be made while investigations are ongoing."
The police had previously said they were investigating a mass brawl at the popular car festival but this latest incident appears to be quite separate. It's in a different part of the ground and involves only the security guard and a visitor to the festival.
The mass brawl happened towards the end of Saturday at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC).
In one of the videos of it and heavily circulated on social media, a mass confrontation took place between security guards and the crowd, some of whom were throwing bottles or cans.
At one stage, two men appeared to be arguing with a large group of people wearing hi-vis vests with the words "crowd safety" on the back.
One of the men appeared to be punched in the face by a man in a vest, leading to further punches being thrown at members of the public.
In another video, one of the men in hi-vis was physically restrained by others and could be heard saying to someone off-camera, "I'll kill you".
As the atmosphere grew more confrontational, the video appears to show at least one guard laying into Summernats attendees, arms flailing. A guard also appeared to kick a man on the ground.
The co-owner of Summernats Andy Lopez was asked for comment on the latest incident to come to light but hadn't responded at the time of writing. He had previously said that his organisation was investigating the brawl.
Away from the festival site, police complained of burnouts across Canberra during the four-day car festival.
Acting Inspector Mark Richardson branded drivers who took part in the illegal antics as a "subspecies" and "morons".
"They just haven't evolved very far. I think they've really plateaued as a species or subspecies of the human race".
He wondered if check-points should be set up on the ACT border.
"If we set up an IQ testing station at the border, instead of a vehicle testing station, we would probably halve our problems," he said.
