A Florida policeman has been sacked after singing with a death metal band onstage while on duty.
Officer Andrew Ricks of the City Of Sanford Police Department joined Vital Remains onstage at West End Trading Co venue in Sanford last week and helped introduce their track Let The Killing Begin.
He had already handed in his resignation and was due to stop working with the force today (November 20). But when a member of the public passed a video of Ricks with the band to the police department, he was relieved of duty on Wednesday, according to the Orlando Sentinal.
Police Chief Cecil B Smith says: “An incident of this nature erodes the thin fibres of trust which already exist between the community and the police and it will not tolerated within the Sanford Police Department.
“It is imperative that we have no misrepresentations of the immediate actions taken by the police department in situations of this nature and that we will continue to provide professional service to all citizens of Sanford.”
Let The Killing Begin is the opening track from Vital Remains’ 2003 album, Dechristianize.
Ricks has so far declined to comment.
