MIAMITOWN — Ten minutes. Two police agencies, head-to-head. Pizza.
It sounds like the setup for a reality TV show, but this competition was very real. Two heavyweights of the Tri-State's law enforcement faced off to see who could devour the most pizza in ten minutes.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office took on the Cincinnati Police Department to take giant bites out of pizza -- rather than crime.
The unique fundraiser in Miamitown Sunday sought to raise money to help families of officers killed or injured in the line of duty, and to support community programs involving law enforcement.
Steve's BP in Miamitown and Maka Mia Pizza organized the contest and provided the pizza in question.
The teams lined up, settled on their strategies, and dove in.
"It's all psychological at that point," said Deputy Ben Sukys, on the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office team. "If you take one piece of pizza, put it on top of the other piece of pizza, your mind thinks you're eating one but you're actually eating two."
Officer Rich Minella, with the Cincinnati Police Department, tried that strategy, but couldn't get behind it. "I tried to go two pieces at once, but it was just more to chew," he said.
As the ten minute countdown drew to a close, only one agency would win.
It came down to a single slice: the HCSO would walk away with the title.
"It feels good," said Deputy Sukys. "I've always said there's two things I was meant to do in life, and that's be a cop and eat pizza. I'm just glad I got to put the pizza part to good use tonight."
The HCSO downed one whole pizza, plus six additional slices, while CPD could only make it through a pizza and five slices.
At the end of the night, however, the event raised one thousand dollars, plus an additional $900 donated on behalf of the two teams.
