I came across this article from the LA Time blog:
Two bike messengers saved the day for a Los Angeles man Monday when they chased a bike thief for five blocks downtown and then knocked him to the ground, causing him to flee, police said. Keep reading the article by clicking here
Having being a target of a bike theft myself, it kind of warms my heart to read about a foiled bike theft. The question is, would you chase down a bike thief even though the bike being stolen was not yours? I think I was riding with a group of buddies we would probably give chase, but not if I would be riding solo.
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I have a few stories where I’ve been a witness to a wrong doing and I intervene, for a bike, ya I would.
That’s cool, but I like this from the Surly blog
I imagine I would go after someone for swiping a bike.
I would probably try to catch them without looking like I’m chasing them, and then hit them with my can o’ mace once I catch them.
I love these kinds of stories…as long as people don’t take things TOO far and really beat the crap out of the thief. There was another good L.A. “street justice” story the other day, too — where the cyclists forced the thieves to strip down to their underwear. Public humiliation is always more poetic than violence:
http://urbanvelo.org/la-bicycle-thief-street-justice/
GR – Well, okay, maybe not beat the snot out of ‘im, maybe just tie ‘im to the MUP and let all the MTB cyclists practice their bunny hopping over ‘im for a few hours. (If they don’t make it … oops, too bad.)
Would I run down a thief? I’d be afraid of denting, scratching or otherwise damaging the stolen bicycle and discovering I ain’t a hero but a villain for sticking my nose into the situation.