San Gabriel Valley : PHONE HERO
He’s got good timing, a taste for adventure and a cellular phone--three things that make Steve Tepe a hero in the minds of South Pasadena police officers.
Armed with nothing but his cellular phone, Tepe jumped into a stranger’s car Monday and chased three men who had just driven away from a bank robbery in a stolen Honda Accord, police said.
As the driver followed the bank robbers, Tepe stayed on the cellular phone, keeping police dispatchers apprised of the suspects’ location.
“It was great hearing your words being translated into a large helicopter swooping down in front of us,” said Tepe in an interview.
The driver, who had his 9-year-old son in the car, asked police not to identify him, but he can’t stop the department from commending him and Tepe for chasing the armed robbers from South Pasadena until police could catch up to them in Los Angeles, Police Chief Tom Mahoney said.
The men were instrumental in helping police catch Louis Johnson, 22, and two juveniles who were arrested at Slauson and Western avenues in Los Angeles after the Honda crashed into a utility pole, Mahoney said. . . .
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