Florida police officer Andrew Ricks was fired this week for singing on stage with the Providence, Rhode Island-based death metal band, Vital Remains. The superfan was reportedly on duty when he jumped on stage in full uniform during their November 13 appearance at the West End Trading Company in Sanford to help introduce the band's 2003 song "Dechristianize" by belting-out (err, screaming) the song's first lines: "Let the killing begin!"
You can watch Ricks rocking out in the brief video below.
Police Chief Cecil B. Smith said in a statement that "an incident of this nature erodes the thin fibers of trust which already exist between the community and the police and it will not be tolerated within the Sanford Police Department," Noisey reports. While it's probably never a good idea to scream "Let the killing begin" while on the clock (and wearing an easily recognizable uniform), anyone who has ever been to a live concert can agree that seeing the security and staff working to keep the event safe actually having fun helps create a greater sense of trust within the concert's community.
The clip of Ricks briefly reveling in the thrill of being on stage with one of his favorite rock bands while at work--in other words, living the audiophile's dream--has gone viral. It is notably a rarity in terms of viral cop videos because he seems pretty cool. A quick YouTube search of the topic brings up countless examples of corruption, abuse of power, excessive brutality and a living history of perpetuating a system of oppression through racial discrimination. As Brooklyn Vegan points out, this most recent incident comes from the very same police department that failed to arrest George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin back in 2013.
Incidentally, Ricks had submitted his notice of resignation to the city back in October that apparently would have gone into effect this weekend anyway.
