A man dressed as a clown has allegedly chased a group of teenage girls to a WA police station, while a driver has reported hitting a pedestrian wearing a clown costume in the latest clown stunts sweeping the world.
A 19-year-old man has been charged with disorderly behaviour and possession of a disguise after he allegedly scared a group of girls near a shopping centre in Northam, northeast of Perth, and chased them for about 700 metres to a police station on Saturday night.
In a separate incident, a woman reported to police that she had hit a pedestrian dressed as a clown on Tonkin Highway in Champion Lakes about 12.30am on Sunday, but the person ran into nearby bushland and could not be found by the airwing or canine units.
Authorities are taking the scary clown craze seriously after receiving myriad reports of people being harassed and frightened by clowns.
In the last week there have been multiple reports from the US of clown sightings, including one in New York where a clown was reported chasing a young boy through the subway with a knife.
The madness has now spread to Australia with Victoria Police posting this warning on their Facebook page.
"Victoria Police are aware of people who are parading in the public wearing clown masks.
"The clown purge appears to be a copycat of incidents being seen in the USA recently."
"Any intimidating and threatening as well as anti-social behaviours will not be tolerated and will be investigated by Police.
"Please contact your local police station if you have any concerns."
The clown sightings began last month in the US state of South Carolina around the town of Greenville and were initially believed to be promotional stunt for a horror movie.
