53x11

This is from LA Triathlon forum.. It did not happen to me..


Last Sunday, April 6th at 5:30pm I was running west on the Ballona Creek bikepath. Just after I passed under the 405, a kid (maybe 16 yrs old) jumped out and lunged at a passing bike that was coming east. I wasn't sure what the kid was trying to do, but the bike kept on going, so I continued running. Then I heard some kind of electronic "click-click-click" noises behind me as I ran. I turned around, and saw that the kid was trying to jab
me with what looked like a stun gun. He said "You got any money?" I said I didn't and took off, and he gave up the chase.

I didn't have a cell phone, and I continued on my run. When I returned through the same area an hour later, he was gone. Afterward, I went to the LAPD station on Culver Blvd. and made a report.

I know there was an email that went around a couple weeks ago that mentioned someone having their iPod stolen not far from where this happened. So, we all need to be aware of this situation and be careful when using the Ballona
Creek bikepath; but we also need to report to the police any incidents that occur there. Otherwise, the situation will get worse and we will lose this terrific place to run and ride our bikes.

If you see or experience anything, please call the LAPD at (310) 482-6334 and report it. If the police don't know there is a problem, they can't fix it. The officers I spoke to were very interested in helping, and may even
do some jogging patrols. So, be aware and be careful - but do not surrender.

Jim Bender

AkAk2000

Thanks for posting this.

The 405 underpass is the closest underpass to the Mar Vista Gardens housing project that fronts Ballona Creek. Pretty spooky if the dude was packing a taser. Could actually cause a fatality if someone gets tasered, loses control of the bike, and falls on their head. At the bottom of that underpass most people are going 20+ mph.

By the way, would you please supply the link to the original posting, or at least the name of the forum. Thanks.

urbanknight

I thought you couldn't mention other "commercial enterprises"

Reading these stories makes me want to carry stronger defense weapons than I already do.

53x11

it was a forwarded email in SBW email notification.

DScott

That's not good!

BTW, that phone number ((310) 482-6334 ) is for the LAPD Pacific Division station (on Culver and Centinela), which covers that area and the Ballona Creek bike path.

jslopez

Not exactly a Ballona Creek incident for me yesterday but riding by Fox hills mall a car with a bunch of teenagers pulls out ahead of me, yells profanities and tries to cut me off a few seconds later.

I stop behind them and they stop and start piling out of the car. This is when I pull out my cell phone and say "Yes officer 5 teens in a car with plate number...". That bluff is enough to scare them away.

Kids nowadays....

photonick

It's ridiculous out there, I was riding on PV drive South and a car with a bunch of teenagers in it was driving and screaming at bikers, I sprinted and caught up to them at the end of Hawthorne Blvd where Marine Land used to be and all the kids kinda wilted back in their seats as I started at them and I proceeded to scream back in their faces...not the most mature thing but I was all juiced up with adrenaline from the ride. What really shocked me was that it wasn't a teenager driving the car...it was one of their Dad's who was about 40. I mean who lets their kids do that, if I had kids and they did that I would have them get out and apologize to the biker and offer to get them some water or a energy bar and take it out of their allowance.

photonick

I did have some girls in Santa Monica scream "nice ass!" as they drove by me last week though haha 85 miles in to 90 miles, that was a nice change from "get out of the road ******"

mateo44

Two pretty obvious mistakes. Sorry to hear it happened, though, and don't mean to sound like I'm blaming the victim.

The person seriously ran back through the same area? Seriously?

Chucklehead

not to nitpick or anything, but there's a huge difference between a stun gun(which it sounds like this kid had) and a taser. stun guns are pretty useless unless you're are being held down. it's more of a deterrent. you hear a scary sound, you'll feel a shock, and it'll hurt, but it won't stop you from getting up and kicking someone's ass. someone comes at me with a stun gun and no friends to help, i may get shocked, but i'm also breaking his arms.
tasers actually fire projectiles that stick in your skin and deliver an incapacitating shock. they will drop you.

shakeNbake

That's pretty much my route. Sucks.

AkAk2000

Appreciate the info. I have no experience with either, and always just assumed a stun gun was a generic umbrella term for the whole class of taser-like weapons. Good to know the difference. Sounds like a stun gun doesn't really hurt you or immobilize, but just hurts? That doesn't sound too bad. Wouldn't mind wading right through something like that if it means I can get to the guy.

Does a taser, then, have a higher-capacity capacitor or voltage? The projectile mechanism just seems like a shock delivery mechanism. A stun gun to the exposed skin, or taser-like projectiles fired at a person, would seem to be comparable shock-delivery mechanisms -- both would seem to provide solid contact through which the voltage could be delivered. One must have a higher voltage, or so it seems to the uninitiated.

AkAk2000

Don't let it deter you. Although I guess anybody could be a victim, I think you need to ride through that area looking aggressive, and showing with your body language that you don't take ****e. I stare dudes down if they're looking shady, and take an aggressive elbows-out riding posture through that section.

Not sure I'd want to ride through there in the pitch dark, however.

DScott

Agreed. I've been through there several times a week for the last year-and-a-half, and only once or twice have I even seen anybody looking squirrely, let alone felt like it may come down to some kind of confrontation. Granted, I tend to be there early in the day, and feel it gets more crowded as the day progresses, and on weekends.

I second the suggestion to take an aggressive position, and be alert/aware of your surroundings. Not looking like an easy target is always a good idea. Though I do wonder just how threatening a guy in lycra can be.

alicestrong

Hey 53X11 do you mind linking back to the original post ?

mateo44

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon

DScott

The weapons are really not the point. FWIW, stun-guns are everywhere, very cheap and easy to get. Tasers are more regulated and more expensive, and much less likely to be used in a crime.

The real issue, IMO, is that you have creatures out there willing to get aggressive. The last reported assault on this bike trail involved a cyclist getting pushed over and swarmed by an aggregate of societies misunderstood and oppressed youth. No weapons involved, AFAIK.

Be aware, and ride safe out there!

CritEastwood

I rode Ballona Creek last Friday evening and no bangers tried anything with me. I was pretty disappointed about that.

mateo44

Wow, you're tough.

DScott

Lurtz Eastwood:

CritEastwood

Hahahaha

Placid Casual

This hysterical thread is full of funny handwringing that is hysterically funny.

(Did I do it right?)

alicestrong

My handwringing is calm and measured, yet still concerned. I have a coy half smile on my face, much like the Mona Lisa.

DScott

My handwringing is a little more Don Knotts, via Craig Shoemaker...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgCfB_HkDUo