Fine a ‘blessing’ for our Nullabor fundraiser

By Cherie Donnellan
A RUN-IN with South Australia police was a “blessing in disguise”, a Geelong a charity skateboarder said.
Aaron Salta was 180km from completing his 2000km skate across the Nullarbor when a motorcycle highway patrol officer stopped and fined him on Tuesday, near Crystal Brook.
“At first I was really upset but we’ve actually received more media attention, so I should probably thank him.”
Mr Salta was set to complete his fundraising journey after the Independ-ent went to press on Wednesday night.
The South Australia police officer was “uncooperative” when given an explanation for the ride, he said.
“We tried to tell him that we had already notified Adelaide police about what we were doing and where we’d be but he didn’t want a bar of it.
“He wouldn’t even call the station to confirm our story.”
Support crew member Sean McLaughlin said the South Australia policeman fined Mr Salta for riding a “toy” on a road with a speed limit over 50km/h.
The officer called Mr Salta a “weirdo” and told him he “had rocks in his head”, Mr McLaughlin said.