A video emerged on Instagram showing an elderly man exercising in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens without a mask on Monday. The man was stopped by four police and handcuffed at the scene.

I’ve lost faith in humanity.. elderly gentleman in Queensland was arrested for no mask (he has a mask exemption). He was walking in Brisbane Botanical Gardens. Due to the arrest the gentleman suffered a seizure and went into cardiac arrest.#EnoughIsEnough pic.twitter.com/oyrgXVI7sC

— Pelham_3 (@Resist_03) August 3, 2021

Brisbane is currently in a snap lockdown with harsh Covid restrictions that include wearing a face mask at all times when outside the home. Despite having a medical exemption that allows him to exercise without a mask, police persisted.

The man peacefully complied with directions. His partner answered police questions in an attempt to stop them from taking the distressed man away.

He then suffered a seizure at the scene, at which point his partner tried to render assistance while the police removed his handcuffs.

Police allegedly joked when he had a seizure that they did not believe he had heart problems that warranted the mask exemption. The man’s heart medication was revealed to be in a plastic bag in his backpack.

“See? Do you believe me now, you pricks?” said the man’s partner, as the medication was taken out.

The woman took over treatment after police put the medication down in front of the man, who was by this stage unable to help himself.

He can be seen falling to the ground and then violently thrashing around on the pavement, gasping for air while handcuffed.

Instagram user _josephmerlino, who claims to be the man’s son, took to social media to voice his distress at the way his father was treated by police enforcing Queensland’s health orders.