A Florida police officer thought it’d be a good idea to re-enact scenes from the 2001 film Training Day. His stupid decision resulted in his termination.
According to CNN affiliate WESH 2 News, Lake County Officer Dean Zipes was fired for waving his firearm and stun gun while quoting lines from Denzel Washington’s character. For those have not seen the film, Washington plays Detective Alonzo Harris, a corrupt Los Angeles narcotics officer with some of the most memorable lines in movie history: “You gotta be a wolf to catch a wolf” and, of course, “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” It’s an undeniably great film, but not the best for a cop to quote while on the job.
Lake County authorities fired Zipes after conducting an internal investigation. Zipes, who was let go on April 21, was accused of rubbing his pistol and stun gun together in the direction of a convenience store, while a police trainee watched. Zipes told authorities he thought the reference was funny; however, officials finally had enough of his behavior.
WESH 2 News reports the officer had previously pulled out his gun in the office, used racial slurs, became angry after failing to get free Starbucks, and made a motion to draw his gun at a pizza delivery driver.
“I am not a rogue, reckless, dangerous, insane guy that slipped through the cracks at the hiring process and somehow got a gun and a badge,” Zipes told investigators, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel. He claimed he was “just a guy going through some stuff.”
