Star of reality TV show, 'Operation Repo,' helps police capture car thief in L.A.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It could only happen in L.A.
After a car thief took cops on a high-speed chase through the City of Angels – which included both a stolen BMW and a presumably not stolen skateboard – a reality television star finally helped to bring the crook to justice.
Lou Pizarro, the star of TrueTV’s “Operation Repo,” spun the red pick-up truck he uses on the show around, trapping the fleeing thief against a fence before the cops arrived to slap the cuffs on him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I’ve seen the guy running with a skateboard in his hand, and he’s running from the cops," Pizarro said. "There’s like six or seven cops."
Pizarro’s quick thinking was obviously more than the LAPD was able to do as the cops and television news helicopters followed the unnamed car thief’s flight through the city – narrowly avoiding other cars, hitting 90 miles an hour on side streets and slamming into the back of a stopped automobile. That's when the thief took on foot bearing a mysterious object.
"What’s he carrying? Is that a gun?" one television announcer asked, before being informed dryly that the crook was holding a skateboard.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Despite his good deeds, Pizarro was not recognized at first by the local media. The reality show personality got gastric sleeve surgery 15 months ago and has lost 150 pounds.
"It was just instinct to block the guy off and slow him down a little bit," Pizarro said. "It’s all I could do."