“I’m Going to Write You a Ticket”: Officer Confronts Man Over RC Boat at Public Launch in Viral Video

A viral moment is getting renewed attention online involving an encounter between a man running his toy RC boat in the water and a Madisonville police officer who claims he isn't allowed to do it.

Brennan Frederick is the RC boat owner, who identifies himself in the video, which has since been reshared by various social media accounts. He also posted the full video, along with clips from the encounter, on his YouTube channel, @BrennanFrederick.

Cop Tells Man He Can't Use His Toy RC Boat in the Water

In the clip, a Madisonville police officer can be seen pulls his patrol SUV up close to the water, where Frederick is operating his RC boat. The officer tells him, "You can't do that in here," to which Frederick asks why.

The officer responds, "Because it's a real boat launch." Frederick then asks if he can use it a few feet away in another area of the water, and the officer tells him he could have done it over there instead.

The officer then refers to Frederick's boat as a "little toy" and says his "little toy" is going to get run over and he's going to get mad.

At that point, it's not entirely clear whether the officer is saying RC boats aren't allowed in the water there or if he's simply trying to prevent a situation where the boat gets damaged and Frederick complains because his "toy" was run over.

Frederick then tells the officer he "must be bored" if he's bothering him over a small RC boat, but says he'll move to the area where he's apparently allowed to use it.

But after Frederick dishes back some of the same sarcasm the officer had been using, the officer responds, "I'll tell you what, you've gotta have a permit to launch a boat," before adding, "I'm going to write you a ticket for no boat launch permit."

Frederick, clearly surprised, asks, "For a toy?" The officer then suggests Frederick is the one trying to make a big deal out of the situation.

The RC boat owner assures the officer he isn't trying to make a big deal out of it and is simply trying to enjoy his Saturday morning. He tells the officer that he's the one making it into an issue before adding that he should "go mess with someone who's doing drugs or something."

That comment appears to set the officer off. He then tells Frederick he needs to leave the premises. To prevent the situation from escalating any further, Frederick agrees he’ll leave.

People in the comments of his videos sided with him, with many saying he simply hurt the officer's ego which one commenter wrote, “That's a class 1 felony.” Another user wrote, "You noticed he went from calling it a toy to calling it a boat."

A third commenter called the officer's actions "petty," and overall, many commenters felt the officer reacted the way he did because he was offended by how Frederick spoke to him.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims shown in the video, which is based on footage shared by Frederick.