A supervisor said the deputy posed a "serious safety concern to citizens and other deputies," according to an internal affairs investigative report obtained by News 6. A Lake County sheriff’s deputy is out of a job after officials say he waved his firearm and stun gun while quoting lines from Denzel Washington's character in "Training Day," a movie about a corrupt law enforcement officer. It happened in February, and News 6 has learned Zipes was already under investigation "for pulling his firearm out of his holster twice in an office setting and using racial slurs," according to the internal affairs report.
– A Florida deputy was fired last month for impersonating one of the most famous corrupt cops in movie history. The Orlando Sentinel reports Deputy Dean Zipes was outside a sheriff's substation in Lake County around 4am last February with a police trainee and other deputies when he started quoting a "profanity-laced" speech given by Denzel Washington in Training Day. He then rubbed his pistol and Taser together in the direction of a convenience store in what an internal affairs review says mimicked Washington's character, according to WESH. WKMG reports another deputy "was upset" Zipes was acting "in an unsafe manner" where a member of the public could potentially see him. Zipes told investigators he was just joking around. “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,” the Sentinel quotes Zipes as saying to investigators. He told them he's "going through some stuff." Zipes was fired April 21, with a supervisor saying he created a "serious safety concern" for fellow deputies and civilians. There are also reports Zipes pulled his pistol twice in an "office setting" and used racial slurs. He reportedly motioned to pull his pistol on a pizza delivery person he was pretending to mistake for an accused cop-killer, and also once "made a scene" at a Starbucks when they wouldn't give him free coffee.