Pizza delivery driver goes viral after tripping suspect fleeing from police
A pizza delivery driver has gone viral after stepping into a police chase and tripping a suspect letting the pursuing officer catch up and stop the runaway.
Two teenagers were caught joyriding a stolen car in Delaware. Local police pursued the suspects before the 17-year-old driver crashed on Preston Street, Middletown Township.
Passenger Driver Gutierrez-Tejada is facing charges of stolen property and resisting arrest whilst the driver is facing unspecified charges.
What appears to be a routine arrest was anything but with the events leading up to the capture drawing attention across the globe thanks to a wild TikTok clip.
Pizza delivery driver trips suspect to assist police capture
Cocco’s Pizza employee Tyler Morell has gone viral after tripping a suspect being chased by the police. A TikTok video posted by the company’s official account revealed how the situation went down, amassing over 4 million views before being taken down.
The pizza delivery driver was working on April 16 when the stolen car drove past. The alleged thief then jumped out of the car and ran toward Morell who made a quick judgment call to stick out his leg and trip up the suspect.
Speaking to ABC, Morell recalled the events leading up to the assist: “A car just came up doing like 75, he beached on the side of this person’s lawn and almost took out a couple of cars.”
Continuing on the pizza delivery driver explained his reasoning for stepping in: “I am so sick of seeing crime go on, especially half a mile down the road. So if they needed a hand or a foot, I was there.”
Although grateful Brookhaven Police Department’s chief of police Michael Vice hesitated to encourage others to follow Morell’s example: “We still say let the police handle it but he made the split-second decision that ultimately helped us.”
Citizens like Tyler getting involved with police activities isn’t new. Be it assisting the police or even full-blown citizen arrests, there have been numerous cases of bystanders getting involved and saving the day.