Mike Vitar

Michael Anthony "Mike" Vitar (born December 21, 1978), is an American actor who appeared as Benjamin Franklin "Benny the Jet" Rodriguez in The Sandlot and as Luis Mendoza in D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks. 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 with his wife Kym, whom he married in 2006, along with their two sons and daughter. Vitar, and two other firemen, were involved in a physical altercation with another man (who was severely injured) on Halloween 2015. He was booked on December 3 for the incident, and was later released on $30,000 bail. Vitar faced up to four years in prison for his role in the scuffle. In January 2017, he pleaded no contest to the charge of misdemeanor battery and avoided jail time. He will have to pay a $2,000 fine, attend weekly anger management classes for one year, and complete 90 days of community service. He will also have to pay restitution to the attack's victim. The undisclosed amount of the restitution payment was decided in February 2017.