Salt Lake City pizza shop employees fight back against disguised pipe-wielding robber

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KUTV) – Anyone working at a late-night pizza shop has probably dealt with their fair share of weird customers, but employees at a Salt Lake City pizza place say what happened overnight Monday was beyond weird.

A man cloaked in white garbage bags entered Big Daddy's Pizza at 450 South 700 East around 1:30 a.m. and confronted the employees.

“I’m thinking the guy wants a free pizza,” manager Jeramiah Wood told 2News.

But it was quickly apparent that the garbage-sack covered man wanted more than a slice of pizza.

“I just asked him what are you doing, and then all of sudden he pulled out the pipe and hit me in my arm,” Wood said.

Surveillance video of the incident shows the employees respond the violent attack by grabbing pizza-making tools, including a paddle, and running to fight back.

“My coworker kept swinging back, all we knew was we had to get him out of the store,” Wood said.

The video shows the employees run out of the store after the suspect.

Police reports say he was caught a block away and when cops removed his disguise, they revealed his identity as Curtis Sims.

Sims is now being held in jail on two felonies – aggravated robbery and aggravated assault – for which he could face five-years-to-life in prison.

“I’ve had drunk people, I’ve had people throw stuff, that’s as far as it goes, but this guy had another agenda,” Wood said.