Tyler Morrell, seen in a red T-shirt and inset, discusses saving the day – and the pie — on After Hours (Screengrab via Law&Crime Network)
A Pennsylvania pizza delivery man was integral to the arrest of a suspect who was in the process of eluding police, authorities say.
Tyler Morrell, who works for Cocco’s Pizzeria in Brookhaven, recently spoke with Law&Crime’s Sam Goldberg about the unusual weekend delivery in a recent episode of After Hours.
“I’ve only been there about three months,” the pizza delivery man said. “But it’s been pretty normal. Every day’s been pretty normal. You’ve got your slow days. You’ve got your busy days. This was, like, one of those down the middle days, you know? I’m in the middle of my shift and I’m working until like 9:00. It’s like 3:30. I knew I had a cash order like five minutes down the road. And, I get up there. I pull up. My car is parked on the side. Plenty of room for somebody to get by – if they’re driving reasonably.”
Then Morrell noticed the high-speed chase just off in the distance – and immediately coming closer and closer.
“I get to the door, I knock on the door, I ring the doorbell,” Morrell said. “And she opens the main door but doesn’t open the glass door all the way. So, I can’t get the pizza to her. So, I’m stuck with the pizza. And then, so, once I hear the siren and then the screeching, she shuts the door completely, she’s watching from inside. And then, I’m there stuck with the pizza in my hand – there’s really nowhere to put it down. So, I hear all this screeching going on. He almost flipped over.”
The incident itself was caught on a doorbell camera video.
In the footage, a police sport utility vehicle can be seen tailing a dark-colored hatchback. The smaller car stops at an intersection and the driver gets out, turns around, and takes to the sidewalk where Morrell can be seen with a pizza box in his hand, walking cautiously toward the sidewalk and astutely surveying the scene before him in quick fashion.
“He’s just spinning his tires in the grass,” Morrell explained. “The cops pull up behind him. You can see that he’s trying to get out – he keeps trying to get out. And he gets out eventually – and the cops weren’t even out of their car yet. But he was full sprint. So, I was like, ‘I dunno if they’re gonna be able to get him.””
Morrell said that he didn’t see the police catching the runner without some help.
“I just didn’t even wanna take the chance, like, I didn’t wanna watch and be like, ‘Oh, just let them run and get him,’ you know?” the delivery driver said. “Make them chase him down. Who knows what could’ve happened after that? So, I literally just – I was like, I can’t use my hands – I probably would have tackled him if I could.”
“I was like, I gotta keep the pizza good,” he went on. “I gotta get the cash for the pizza. Because, I’m thinking: ‘I can’t – I’m not gonna lose the money at the end of the day.’”
Then the moment of truth arrived.
Seen wearing a red shirt and greenish-brown shorts, Morrell makes a series of slight positioning steps and hops as the suspect, wearing a black hoodie, attempts to run past him. But then the delivery man, pizza box in hand, sticks one leg out and trips the running man, causing him to fall to the ground. As he rises, a waiting officer appears to draw his gun and makes the arrest.
“It was wild,” the pizza delivery man said. “I just had like a split second. And I kind of, like, tried to fake it a little bit like I wasn’t gonna do anything. So, I was just kind of standing there. And I backed up, kind of faded away, and then I moved forward with a leg out.”
The footage went somewhat viral on Facebook and TikTok, and was also reportedly shared with Philadelphia-based Fox affiliate WTXF by the person who ordered the pizza.
“Honestly I didn’t really think about doing anything, but stepping in,” Morrell told the TV station. “I was raised to step in if you see something that’s not right. So, I just wanted to do my part.”
But stopping crime wasn’t Morrell’s only concern — he wanted to make sure the customer awaiting the pizza got what they ordered.
“I did as much as I could to prevent the cheese from sliding,” he told WTXF.
Morrell agreed to speak with Law&Crime after an initial interview with the local TV station.
“From what I saw, there’s video of them enjoying the pizza delivered,” he said in response to a follow-up question about the state of the cheese on the pie. “So, I think everything was still intact.”
There was also a bag on top of the pizza box. It did not fall off during Morrell’s quick sweep of the leg.
“I honestly don’t even remember handing the pizza over,” Morrell told Law&Crime. “So, I’m glad that it was unscathed, apparently.”
The pizzeria cheered on Morrell in a Facebook post.
“Special shoutout to our delivery driver Tyler, who assisted the Brookhaven police today, and STILL delivered the food unharmed!!” Cocco’s official account wrote.
Morrell said the woman who ordered the pizza sent him the video, which he shared with the restaurant, which in turn shared it online. That’s when the media requests came rolling in.
The pizza delivery man said he believed he received a $10 tip on what was only a $25 order.
“I’ll take that,” Morrell said. “That’s a good tip.”
He has received some threats, he said, after the video started receiving attention. But, he said, he’s not worried about those anonymous phone calls, calling the messages “coward behavior.”
Morrell is also an entrepreneur, he told Law&Crime, and is planning on opening a cheesesteak-slinging business in the coming months.
That idea, he said, was based on his prior experience of serving the Philadelphia delicacy to New York City firehouses and police departments in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“I’m a few months out,” Morrell said. “I’m gonna keep delivering pizzas at Cocco’s, though.”
The pizza shop is getting a substantial amount of free publicity as a result of the deliveryman’s efforts. He wanted to make sure that a tire shop that gave him a free tire after the incident got some as well.
“I gave a little shoutout to the tire air shop: 3 J’s Tire Shop in Aston, they threw on a tire free of charge for me.” Morrell said. “I’m trying to pay and the guy’s like, ‘It’s on the house.’”
In its own Facebook post, the Brookhaven Police Department credited Morrell for his efforts.
“Thank you sir for the assist!!!” the post reads. “If you’re interested in a job we are always looking for good people. Coccos Pizza Aston. You have great employees!”
The pizza delivery man mulled over the job offer.
“I’ll definitely consider it,” Morrell told Law&Crime. “I can’t say I would definitely do it.”
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