“The officer was actually surprised at how good of shape it was in for how old it was,” said Hoffman, who is a registered truck mechanic. “I do a majority of the maintenance and inspections myself.”

Hoffman said he hadn't completed an annual inspection because he has not used the truck for any commercial purposes. The truck is covered under insurance, but he did not feel the need to keep a display in the truck because it rarely left his property.

Additionally, he said he was unaware of a recent regulation about how trailers must be attached on commercial trucks and had not changed his vehicle to fit the new rules.

“This officer treated me as if I had gravel and skids in the back and was on my way to make a patio,” he said.

Hoffman told the Independent that the night of Dec. 3 he was parked beside Oak Grove Cheese Factory with other parade participants before the event started. While he talked to volunteers who would collect food bank donations from parade viewers, his daughter pointed something out that his dump truck was getting some attention.

“She saw two officers looking at the truck for a while, but at the time I didn’t think anything of it,” said Hoffman.

The team went through the parade and had the best collection in all the 15 years Hoffman’s been helping. Local donors gave over 1,000 pounds of donations and over $600 was collected for the food bank this year.

Afterwards, Hoffman went back to Norm Hill Park to wait for traffic to calm down before he drove his truck through town to the Wilmot Family Resource Centre.

As soon as he left, a police cruiser drove up behind Hoffman’s vehicle and followed to his destination.

“He waited for us, like a deer hunter waits for his prey,” Hoffman said.

Days later, Hoffman said he was struggling to understand why the officer did what he did.

“I get that he’s doing what he’s supposed to, but I cannot understand where his mindset is at,” he said. “I mean, I put my pants on the same as him, one at a time.

“But he saw what I was doing with the truck, he saw all the decorations on it, and yet he still decided to do that. It just makes me wonder where the line is drawn going forward for the small town parade. Will he charge any of the other floats? Because I can tell some of them might not be up to regulations.”

For next year’s parade, Hoffman hopes to continue helping out, but doesn’t know if he’ll bring the same truck.

As for the current charges, he’s still hoping for a way out.

“I have no plan of paying these and hope to have some kind of appeal,” he said. “Ideally I’d like them dropped, but even more so I’d just like whoever that officer’s supervisor is to sit him down and just ask him ‘what were you thinking?’”