The police officer who challenged a New Britain, Connecticut, man to a dance battle Saturday says he's out to change lives.
New Britain Police Officer Matt Sulek was on duty at the Car Show downtown when Tyler Robert Johnson's dance moves inspired him to ask to join in.
"He came over and he's like wanna have a dance battle and I was, yeah no problem," said Johnson. "You know he was really nonchalant about it. Very chill guy."
Sulek stunned Johnson with what he could do.
"Was he stunned?" asked Sulek. "I was stunned too by his moves. What he did was phenomenal too. I had to show him some type of move to show him what I was capable of."
Sulek wants to show young people that it's OK not to be afraid of police officers.
"By doing stuff like this this is how you can change a life," he said. "This is how you can get into their lives and maybe make them better, show them what they're capable of."
Johnson teaches dance when he's not on duty with the National Guard. He thinks the dancing cop shows how policing should be done, "getting more in touch with the community like how he did with me," he said.
This dance battle does have a winner, police community relations in New Britain, and the mayor of New Britain knows it.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with having a little fun," New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said, "and cops are people too and I think this is a real great way to show that to the community."
Johnson says he has another video that's drawn 300,000 views on the Internet. Thousands of people are bound to see this video, and Sulek hopes they do.
