Last night in Mesa may have been the most dangerous time in the history of pizza.
Shortly after 8 p.m. yesterday, two pizza delivery drivers -- working for different companies -- crashed into each other head-on, killing one of the drivers, a 53-year-old man.
About an hour later, police say another pizza man said he was making a "large pizza delivery" when a man claiming to have a gun tried to rob him of his money and pizza.
Mesa police Detective Steve Berry tells New Times the head-on crash happened at the intersection of Baseline and Extension, involving a Toyota pickup truck being driving by the 53-year-old man, and a Kia Sedona being driven by a 49-year-old man.
Both were delivering pizzas at the time, and the crash occurred when the 49-year-old man was making a left onto Extension.
The names of the men haven't yet been released, but the 53-year-old man died at the scene, while the 49-year-old man was treated for minor injuries.
Police aren't yet sure who had the right-of-way in the situation, as it's still being investigated.
Which pizza places the men were delivering for was not available at the time of this post.
The other pizza-related call to the cops came in around 9 p.m., as a Pizza Hut delivery man told police saying some guy just tried to rob him on the 100 block of North Gilbert Road.
While making the "large pizza delivery" to an apartment, some guy came up to him in the courtyard, saying he had a gun, and demanding the pizza man's money, pizza, and cellphone.
Berry says the man told the pizza guy to put everything on the ground, the pizza guy let him know he "couldn't do that," and the attempted robber told him to walk away -- which he did.
Police say the apartment the pizzas were ordered to was vacant.
"What are the odds of that?" Berry asked us. We asked him pretty much the same thing.
Berry says in his time in law enforcement, he hasn't noticed pizza delivery drivers getting in a higher rate of car accidents, making the accident a pretty rare instance.
