soyboy

you might wonder what it'd been like to hit or you may have hit him and found out he had a blade on him or a broken bottle, or a dirty needle, or whatever, you did the right thing by ending the situation how you did, escalating a situation never really solves it. i'm sorry you had your bike stolen, i'm glad to hear you got it back, lock it better in the future

TheBikeRollsOn 

Ugh, it's disgusting the people in this thread bragging about beating people and wishing they had of, especially the dude who said the homeless person was begging for his life, what good would have came out of beating him senseless, other than your own sick satisfaction?

OP deserved to have his bike stolen, locking it to a chain link fence in LA.

seejohnbike

Sometimes sick satisfaction goes a long way...

1: I'm an incredibly relaxed guy: very, very rarely do I ever get truly upset/livid about something.
2: I've never witnessed my bike current bike getting stolen. (I had a bike stolen once, and I found it missing the morning after it was stolen. it was a schwinn mountain bike, locked with a cable lock. not as expensive nor loved as my current bike, and self-admitted crappy lock-job)
3: I ALWAYS lock to the most secure thing possible. (with NY chain)

That being said, if someone had the audacity to try and jack my bike specifically (when 1. my bike isn't the nicest to begin with, and 2. there are very commonly more easily accessible bikes in close proximity), and I were to witness it in the process, I'm pretty sure it would push me to the point of true, fuming anger. I'm not saying I would instantly go for the throat, but if a very forceful "hands off my bike" (or something), or simply tackling the guy didn't cause him to scurry off, I'm honestly very unsure about what I'd do next.

I don't carry a knife, gun, big stick, or otherwise, so by default I wouldn't resort to a weapon, but (to put it simply) if someone was stealing my bike, and I was like "stop," and they were like "nah," and continued to attempt theft, I don't think that, in the heat of the moment, I'd be as logical as I would right now. Not saying I'd go out of my way to destroy this poor individual, but I'd probably (and perhaps foolishly) do everything in my power to stop the theft (and maybe avoid getting shanked).

Furthermore, I've never been in this situation, so who knows what I'd do in reality. I suspect the same from many of you, too. Sometimes it's hard to escape your gut reaction, whether it's fight to retrieve property, fight to kill, flee, pee your pants, or whatever.

OP, in your circumstance, it sounds like you definitely did the right thing. Otherwise, it depends.

TheBikeRollsOn 

Yeah, I think OP did the right thing, but had he tried to beat the guy up after eh wasn't a threat anymore, that's when it becomes a problem.

dsh

I'm pretty sure tackling the guy was assault and you could go to jail for it.



So, in the eyes of the law, what are you supposed to do if you encounter someone in the process of stealing your bike? If asking nicely doesn't work?

I know the lawyers will say "call the police", but obviously that's not going to stop a thief who will be gone within 30 seconds or so.

Bluetrane2028

It's a sad state of affairs that people in the United States (or anywhere for that matter) seriously have to question the legal validity of undertaking an action to prevent themselves from becoming a victim. It smacks of going against our natural rights, the support of which are at least part of why we have a country in the first place.

Tackling a thief to get back your stuff should at the very least be praised by law enforcement, because then they don't have to get yet another "some ******* stole my bike" phone call.

Beating the crap out of him should be the next expected action after the tackle. Maybe it would deter someone from having such lack of judgement as to steal someone's mode of transportation.

Stabbing/shooting, that crosses the line unless the thief produces a weapon themselves, or you are very good at planting evidence on a body. Just kidding on that last part, or am I? I don't know... never had a bike stolen, hope it never happens.

sknoslo

I would agree if it were not a homeless person. A lot of homeless people would love to spend a couple nights in jail. Free shelter and food. I guess it is probably the right thing to do though.

dsh

Yes, but I'm still curious about the legal side of things. I don't want to get thrown in jail for assault or convicted of manslaughter because I wrestled my bike away from the thief and he tripped and dashed his brains on the curb.

What does the big leatherbound book with "LAWS" on the front of it say you're supposed to do when you encounter someone in the process of stealing your bike?

scroca

Who said he was homeless? Get off your high horse. My post was tongue in cheek anyway.

PHR3AK

you could also buy him a coffee and find out why hungry people steal.
if you kick him he is just more careful next time or brings a knife, guess life is not fair

Sixty Fiver

Some folks tried to jack my ride the other night and failed as I didn't lock up to a chain link fence and they would have needed a cutoff wheel or a torch to get through my lock or the barrier I locked up to.

Seems like bike theft here is really on the upswing as many friends have reported thefts and attempts... figure that at some point someone will get caught in the act and there will be ugliness.

Once you have stopped the theft from happening and are not at personal risk, beating the person(s) becomes assault.

My nephew caught a few guys trying to jack his ride and work through his crappy old u-lock and when he confronted them they threatened him and he showed them the new improved u-lock he had just bought... up close.

Quixotegut

Maybe you could try to not get into any situation where your severely lacking skills in martial arts would require you to need to whip that p.o.s out.

If you can't do it with your hands then you're a *****.

IcySmooth52

You guys don't seem to get the "point" of carrying this. I can hold my own without this, but the ending situation is far more black and blue on both sides. I don't want to hurt them, but I will if they won't back off. So with this point they get my point that they could get hurt if they continue.

dsh

That is, of course, if your members only jacket isn't enough to tell them you mean business.

mustachiod

saw a guy pull a knife in a bar fight once, he also thought the threat of the blade would end it. other dude pulled a gun. no one was hurt, but shows how quickly it can escalate.

also, there is a statistic somewhere about people having their own weapons used against them in these situations. it isn't in your favor. unless you are confident that your combat training is better than your opponent's, keep it in your pocket.

sulr

That is all that is important. I see no point to hitting the man after he has been subdued. It just seems immature to want to "Beat the ****" out of people. And we have cops to deal with criminals, try calling them!

dsh

I think you're either wrong or misrepresenting that "statistic". If someone is so well trained that he will use your own knife against you, he'd probably kick your ass anyway.

Now I don't doubt for a second that people have their own weapons used against them, but you seem to be claiming that pulling a knife makes you less likely to win a fight against an unarmed opponent. That's hogwash.

jtgotsjets

I have a feeling there's some major internet posturing going on in this thread.

Can we just shut the thread down before it progresses to "I wouldn't have beaten him up, but I would have taken his ID so I could kill his family while he slept."

motobeCarnage 

you should have told him to empty his pockets then thrown his $300 worth of ones in his face.

ianjk

Glad you got your bike back. I had a similar thing happen... saw my buddy's bike get nabbed from in front of the bar... luckily the guy didn't know what a fixed wheel was and crashed about 15 feet into his journey.... Just dragged him by his (nice snowboard) jacket (which I tore to hell) into an entry way and pinned him down (probably gave him some nice bruises from my knee to his face/neck and lower back when he started struggling) while my buddy called the cops. (BTW, I don't feel one bit sorry if he was a little sore the next day)

The guy got a couple months in jail as he rode in on a stolen FS Specialized something Comp race MTB with lots of carbon fiber (Saw him stash the ~$3000 bike behind a garbage can when he rolled up to the bar). Head officer knew him by first name and first thing he asked was if he was stealing bikes again...

Yeah, we could have roughed him up (cops probably would have laughed), but eh, guess I am just a granola eating, tree hugging hippie ******

mustachiod

no, that's not at all what i was trying to say.

Scrodzilla

Yes.

I'm glad the OP prevented his bike from being stolen. I'm also glad no one got hurt.