Sovereign citizen reads police officer his rights, threatens $100-a-minute fine

A man who was pulled over by police recorded the unusual moment he read the officer his “rights” before threatening a $100-a-minute fine.

A New Zealand man pulled over by police recorded an unusual interaction where he read the officer his “rights” before threatening a $100-a-minute fine if he were to be apprehended.

The peculiar incident occurred 12 days ago and recently surfaced on social media.

It’s understood the traffic stop happened in the Nelson region of the South Island.

The video footage of the incident shows a police officer asking whether the man had his driver’s license.

In response, the man who claimed to be called ‘Mark’ — with no surname — confidently stated: “I don’t have a licence James. You people know that.”

“I don’t know you,” the baffled officer responded.

Undeterred, ‘Mark’ insisted the officer should recognise him and offered to present his “paperwork”.

Mark, a New Zealand man, recorded the unusual interaction where he read the officer his ‘rights’ before threatening a $100-a-minute fine if he were to be apprehended. Picture: X

‘Mark’ is shown handing over a homemade form of identification that the officer doesn’t accept.

He then makes an unexpected request, asking the officer, “And just by the way, can I read you your rights, James?”

Despite the officer’s initial refusal, stating, “it’s fine, I know my rights”, ‘Mark’ went ahead anyway.

He recited the officer’s rights, declaring: “You have the right to remain silent, you have the right not to do anything, you have the right to get in your car and bugger off back to wherever you came from.”

“Okay? That’s your right,” he added.

He then warned the police officer of incurring a $100-per-minute fee for detaining him, to which the officer simply replied, “Sweet.”

When ‘Mark’ asked if he was being detained, the officer affirmed he was.

‘Mark’ claimed this laminated document was his appropriate documentation. Picture: X (formerly Twitter)

The fed-up officer arrested ‘Mark’. Picture: X (formerly Twitter)

‘Mark’ then asserted: “Okay, you’re liable to $100 a minute; this has been served on you”.

The officer remained unfazed. He told him: “You can send me the bill; I don’t care.” The officer then reiterated his request for the man’s driver’s licence.

“I do not have a licence, James,” he responded.

When asked if he possessed “any form of ID,” the man presented a laminated A4 sheet of paper purportedly served by the cop’s “boss”, former New Zealand Police Minister Poto Williams, while asserting that he was not obligated to co-operate.

Despite the officer’s insistence the man must provide his personal information, he stated, “I do not need to do anything”.

An ensuing debate concerned whether the Land Transport Act applied to the man in question.

“Right, your last chance to give me your details, or you’re getting arrested,” the fed-up officer said.

“Am I really getting arrested?” Mark asked, clearly surprised.

After three minutes of nonsensical debate, the officer proceeded to place him under arrest.

In response to this incident, a New Zealand Police spokesperson told local media: “This is an excellent example of one of our staff responding appropriately to the situation at hand.”

Originally published as Sovereign citizen reads police officer his rights, threatens $100-a-minute fine