YouTube prankster Michael Philippou resolves driving charges stemming from water car prank on eve of trial

A filmmaker who landed in hot water with the law after submerging himself in a car and driving it to the bottle shop has avoided conviction after striking a deal with police on the eve of his trial. Michael Philippou was charged with multiple traffic offences, including driving uninsured, unregistered and in a dangerous or reckless manner. The charges were laid months after Philippou and his twin brother Danny drove a car full of water through a southern suburbs bottle shop in early 2019. The 27-year-old was scheduled to stand trial at Christies Beach Magistrates Court on July 27 but managed to settle with the prosecution before it went ahead. Philippou pleaded guilty to driving without due care and driving unregistered and uninsured on the condition that the more serious charge of reckless driving would be dropped. He was spared a conviction for the remaining three offences which could have jeopardised his plans to continue his fledgling film career overseas. However he was required to pay more than $2000 in fines and court costs and was disqualified from driving for 14 days. Philippou and his twin brother Danny have amassed a substantial following online, going by the name “RackaRacka” and posting videos on YouTube and other social media sites. But while the pair have developed a mass of followers for their online work, they are also moving into the movie industry with their first feature film currently in development.