Police in Australia have charged a 45-year-old man with assault after a video clip went viral appearing to show him standing in front of young Indigenous children whom he'd restrained with zip ties.

Western Australia Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Rod Wilde said police received a call Tuesday afternoon from a resident in the town of Broome, who reported that children — later said to be aged six, seven and eight — were swimming without permission in an "unoccupied pool" at a neighboring property.

Ten minutes later, the police said they received a second call from the man, telling them he'd restrained the children for causing damage at the same location.