Police received several reports on the 21st of October stating that a ‘scooter gang’ comprised of teenagers brought chaos along the streets of Fortitude Valley towards Kangaroo Point.
The minors involved were reportedly participating in the annual Brisbane Street Jam, including 18-year-old YouTube star Jack Dauth. The latter claimed that he was arrested. Other teenagers asserted that police were aggressive towards them.
Credit: Jack Dauth YouTube Page
Police confirmed that no teenagers were arrested or charged in connection with the incident, adding that they had contacted the parents to coordinate where they could safely collect their children. The police also maintained that the teenagers were dangerously riding their scooters going towards oncoming traffic.
Footage released by Nine News Queensland showed police dispersing the crowd from Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. Footage also showed boys wearing safety helmets charging towards the police, prompting them to cordon off parts of Brisbane CBD for crowd control. Hundreds of scooter riders were driving on the wrong side of the road.
The situation spun out of control when Dauth, whom police had tagged as the instigator, claimed that he was violently arrested by police. “First they tackled me down, they ripped my camera, grabbed my microphone and twisted out. They picked me up and just threw me in,” the boy was quoted as saying in an interview with other media.
The police has since released Dauth but he posted a video of his arrest both on his Instagram and YouTube accounts. By October 23, the hashtag #FREEJACK had gone viral on the internet. Dauth has 170,000 YouTube subscribers and 160,000 Instagram followers. In the video that he posted on his Instagram account, fellow scooter riders can be heard chanting “Free Jack!” in the background.
Credit: Jack Dauth/Instagram
Dauth’s social media profiles state that he is from Sydney, Australia. He has been riding scooters since 2011 and calls himself a professional freestyle scooter rider. His profiles also state that he is currently sponsored by UrbanArtt. “My aim is to document what I get up to while out riding, exploring and all round having a fun time,” he wrote in one of his profiles.
Credit: Jack Dauth/YouTube
Police also clarified through a statement given to other media that authorities were not informed ahead of the event. Further investigation revealed that the event was only organised through social media.
