Police Officer Fills in For National Anthem Singer, Wows Crowd!

When the National Anthem singer for a West Virginia University basketball game didn’t arrive in time due to a snow storm, an on-duty police officer named Carlton Smith performed the anthem instead!

Carlton, a former American Idol contestant, wowed the crowd with his performance and now the video is going viral.

“They were like: ‘Hey, we need a favor. Can you sing the anthem?’ I said, ‘how long do I have?’ They said ‘about five minutes,’” Carlton told Inside Edition.

“Any chance I get to do the national anthem is always a big deal to me. I was just basically hoping I didn’t mess it up too much,” he added.