The stands of a high school stadium in Wisconsin went absolutely wild as a cop surprised everyone during the middle of a football game.
For two years, Appleton Police Officer Jack Taschner has been working at Appleton East High School as a resource officer.
He’s grown to get to know and care for all of the students he encounters every day. So? He decided that it would be entertaining to have a little fun with them—they just would never see it coming.
Since Officer Taschner has worked at the high school, he has attended every single basketball and football game. Which means he’s seen every single cheer that the cheerleading squad and spectators have performed. In particular, his favorite is one that the school calls “driving the bus”.
“I’ve watched them do it for a number of years, I decided I want to get in and join them,” Taschner told InsideEdition.com.
During a football game, Taschner pretended to get up to deal with some “unruly fans,” when in actuality, he had quite the plan up his sleeve.
“It just kind of popped in my head: I’d like to join in on them doing their cheer, and whatever they do, the bus driver thing, so I came in Friday morning, I talked to the principals, I said, ‘Hey, here’s what I thought, I had an idea,’ and they said, ‘Yeah, run with it,’” Taschner told ABC2.
The only person that Taschner told about his plan, aside from the principals, was student Braden Hutter who normally leads the cheer.
Hutter was going to play that “unruly fan” that Taschner would confront.
“I did my best acting to make sure it was going to work out, and everyone thought I was going to get handcuffed or something and it was just fun to have him ask for my ID and he told me to take a seat like I was in trouble — but then he took over,” Hutter said.
Performing the cheer to a ‘T,’ the entire surprise was, of course, caught on camera.
The video was then shared by the Appleton Police Department where it quickly went viral.
The video was posted along with the caption: “NO FUN ZONE? Just when it looked like SRO Taschner was breaking up the fun during the Appleton East Football game, expectations changed.”
“I got into it as much as they did,” Taschner told NBC 26. “When I realized they were all doing it with me, I wanted to let it go on forever, but I knew my legs weren’t going to let me.”
Taschner loves the incredible response he’s gotten from the video.
He hopes that it becomes a tradition and lives on even after he’s no longer working at the school as a resource officer.
“I envision it, as an East tradition. Something that, when I’m done being the SRO [school’s resource officer] here, and someone steps in, they have to step in and do it, too. It’s just a great way for the students and the officers to have that connection,” he said.
Since it’s upload, the video has been viewed over 3.4 million times with over 35,000 shares.
It’s clear that Officer Taschner made a lasting impression not only on the students but on people around the globe as well.
Watch the full surprise performance and cheer in the video below!
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