A Waterloo, Ont., man’s running social media challenge came to an unexpected stop on Aug. 3, when he and a friend were arrested for doing something runners and walkers do every day across Canada.
Matvei Malkevich, 20, had been documenting his running progress on Instagram, posting daily videos as part of a self-imposed challenge to run one kilometre for every 100 followers he gained—eventually aiming to run a marathon. But on Day 7 of his challenge, he found himself in trouble with the law for jaywalking across a major street.
In an Instagram video titled “I’m in trouble,” Malkevich and his friend, Petr Anisimov, were midway through a seven-kilometre run when two Waterloo police cruisers pulled up after the pair crossed King Street North outside of a designated crosswalk. The location where the men were pulled over (109 King St. N) was 150 metres from the closest crosswalk.
The video was uploaded to social media on Aug. 10 and has since been viewed more than 500,000 times.
The female officer, appearing in the video, told them they had violated Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act for unsafe crossings. Under Section 144(22) of the Act, pedestrians must use marked crosswalks where provided. While jaywalking isn’t outright illegal in the Waterloo Region, there are specific rules governing when and where a runner (or walker) can cross.
When Anisimov and Malkevich voiced their problem with the officer’s overreach of authority for a petty crime, they were warned that they might end up in the back of the police car. “Arguing with me isn’t going to make this any better,” the officer warned.
After some back-and-forth, Anisimov was handcuffed and placed in a cruiser before being released and issued a ticket.
“If they’re giving me a hard time for crossing the road, my mindset was to give them a hard time too,” Anisimov wrote on social media. “I hope these guys start stopping some real crime.”
