Once officers caught wind of the lip-sync challenge that was spreading through Texas, they knew eventually it was going to be their turn to show off their skills in the squad car.
So when Santa Rosa Police Chief Ronnie Hernandez accepted the challenge from his lieutenant, they recorded their song “Bringing Sexy Back” in the department SUV.
And then Hernandez challenged Cameron County Precinct 5 Constable Eddie Solis over the phone.
“It was exciting,” Hernandez said. “It was just for fun.”
Police in Port Isabel, San Benito and Weslaco also have posted videos doing the Texas police lip-sync challenge. The most recent challenges went out to South Padre Island and Laguna Vista.
The challenges started in San Antonio, and department officers began challenging each other across Texas.
Solis said a San Antonio officer who made videos to entertain his friends was asked by the police department to make a video to help recruit new officers.
For one week, starting near the end of June, officers from departments across Texas began posting their lip-sync video and challenges.
Solis said after the challenges began surfacing on Facebook, he started receiving messages from his followers on Facebook that it was his turn to do the lip-sync challenge.
Many genres of music had been recorded by officers, including rock, rap, country and Tejano.
And last Sunday after church, Solis said he found the time and picked a song to lip-sync.
Little did he know his rendition of the Christian song “I Can Only Imagine” played by the band named Mercy Me would take off. During a span of 24 hours, his post on Facebook had more than 200,000 views.
On Tuesday his video had reached nearly half a million views, 10,000 likes and 14,000 thousand shares.
“There are some good videos, but I think a lot of people are going to be touched by mine,” Solis said.
His video has not spiked as more and more people are watching and sharing Solis’ lip-sync challenge.
He said since his video posted, he has received hundreds of friend requests on Facebook from all over the United Sates and Texas thanking him for his service and picking that particular song for the lip-sync challenge.
“I learned that song at a church retreat,” Solis said. “I did it for the man up stairs, and all my followers on Facebook.”
RAUL GARCIA, Staff Writer
