Mike Vitar

Mike Vitar

Michael Anthony Vitar (born December 21, 1978) is an American former actor who appeared as Benjamin Franklin "Benny the Jet" Rodriguez in The Sandlot. He started acting at the age of 12 when a casting manager spotted him in line for a ride at a school carnival. He retired from acting after 1997. He is of Cuban descent. He has two older siblings. His older brother, Pablo, played the older version of his character, Benny, in The Sandlot, after which he joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1996. Pablo succumbed to colon cancer on January 29, 2008. He also has an older sister, Elizabeth. He attended St. Francis High School in La Cañada, California, from which he graduated in 1997. In 1996, he worked for Gerber Ambulance in Torrance as a stepping stone into the EMS field to move into his current career as a firefighter. Since 2002 he has been a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department. He currently resides in Los Angeles On Halloween night 2015, he and fellow firefighters Eric Carpenter, Thomas Molnar, Eugene Elbert and Michael Cirlin approached, chased and violently assaulted college student Samuel Chang for handing out candy to kids in the neighborhood his grandmother lived. Chang was choked out for 6 minutes, the result of which were liver failure, brain damage, and other injuries. Chang's pulse stopped and the assailants had to get their gear to revive him. The assailants then falsely accused Chang of being on PCP; a drug test cleared him. Vitar was charged with misdemeanor battery charge which he did not contest.

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