Man fined $1300 for ripping police officer’s body camera off

A 61-year-old man who tore off a police officer’s body-worn camera after his mate was kicked out of a Mingenew pub has copped fines totalling $1300. Ross Van Der Schuit, pictured, pleaded guilty in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court on April 9 to assaulting a public officer and obstructing police. Van Der Schuit was drinking at the Commercial Hotel about 11.30pm on March 14 when police ordered his friend to leave “due to his behaviour”, the court was told. The man became argumentative and had to be escorted outside, at which point he complained loudly to Van Der Schuit. Prosecuting Senior Constable Beau Jones said Van Der Schuit began swearing at police and stood directly in the path of an officer, whom he began “aggressively questioning”. “The accused was also told to leave,” Sen. Const. Jones said. “The officer attempted to remove his drink from his hand, which he refused to let go of. “He removed it, at which point the accused grabbed the officer’s shirt and pulled down. This action tore a button off and dislodged the body-worn camera, which fell to the ground.” Another officer intervened and all three men fell to the ground in a scuffle, before Van Der Schuit was handcuffed and arrested. Van Der Schuit’s lawyer said he was intoxicated at the time and had no memory of the events. She said a community-based order would not be suitable because he was a farm worker and seeding work was about to begin. Magistrate Chris Miocevich instead imposed fines of $1000 for the assault and $300 for obstructing police. Van Der Schuit was also ordered to pay court costs of $225.90. Mr Miocevich warned him he was lucky neither officer had been injured or he would have faced more serious offences. “If you had caused bodily harm to either of these officers, you would have gone to jail immediately,” he said.