A video of a man dressed up in costume and doing a back flip off a police cruiser in Petitcodiac, N.B. has attracted media attention across the world.

A video of the stunt was posted to YouTube shortly after, racking up nearly 70,00 views in less than 48 hours. It even earned a nod on the American celebrity news show TMZ.

The man behind the camera says he was filming a documentary when the stuntman leaped into action outside a Halloween party.

“He is the type of guy wherever he goes, he back flips,” says producer Toni Darussio. “Before he back flipped off that cop car he back flipped off of the deck and a couple different objects at that house party before he even did it.”

Two police officers on the scene were not impressed, however.

In the video, one officer approaches the back-flipper as he prepares to jump off the roof of the car. But as the policeman reaches up, the man flips right overhead.

Another officer is then seen jumping into the scene, to assist in detaining the partygoer.

As the police inform the back-flipper he is being arrested for mischief and being drunk in a public place, they notice Darussio is filming the action.

Darussio says the officers asked him to put his camera away and then threatened to arrest him.

"You want to be under arrest, too?" one of the officers is heard asking.

However, according to staff at St. Thomas University, Darussio wasn’t breaking any laws.

“In public spaces you can film what you want to film,” says Philip Lee, the director of journalism at St. Thomas.

“I think the police officer is wrong in saying you’re going to be arrested for mischief.”

RCMP Cpl. Chantal Farrah says the officer who made the comment was likely caught up in the heat of the moment.

“The concern the officer had at the time is that there was a big crowd of people and they were trying to de-escalate the situation,” says Farrah.

“So, they were asking people to leave that area in order not to instigate any further activities.”

“I knew my rights,” says Darussio. “I knew that I was in a public place and I knew I was allowed to legally film a public servant on duty, so I just cooperated with the cops. I wasn’t going to make a big deal about shining a light and camera in their face, but nothing came about it.”

The man who did the back flip off the car was arrested at the scene and later released without charges.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar