'Good Samaritan' Stepped in to Stop a Suspected Thief From Getting Away From Cops — and Not Even the News Cameras Realized Just Who He Was

It's not every day a good Samaritan steps up to help police catch a suspected thief. It's even more rare for that do-gooder to be a famous reality TV personality. That's exactly what unfolded Monday in Los Angeles.

Officers were chasing a suspected car thief around 3:45 p.m. PT when he crashed the stolen car in traffic. Not ready to give up, he grabbed his skateboard and started running. While he may have been ahead of police, he wasn't ahead of Lou Pizarro. Pizarro was behind the wheel of his red pickup and saw everything unfold. That's when he sprang into action, driving his vehicle up on the sidewalk, cutting off the alleged crook's path and giving police time to catch up.

But here's where things get really interesting. Local outlet KABC-TV interviewed Pizarro about his actions, but not once recognized that he's one of the stars of TruTV's "Operation Repo."

Lou Pizarro being interviewed by KABC-TV after stopping a suspected crook with his truck. (Source: KABC-TV screen shots)

"I seen the guy running with a skateboard in his hand, and he's running from the cops, they're like right on him, there's about six or seven cops, and he got on his skateboard and he started moving, and it was just instinct just to block the guy off, slow him down a little bit," Pizarro told the station. "That's all I could do."

Watch it all below:

As TMZ points out, Pizarro looks a little different these days: He's lost about 150 pounds after undergoing lap band surgery.