First they steal your bike, then they assault you and pepper spray you

Got a note from our pal Jocelyn:

My bike was stolen (not news, not unique, I know). The real story is when I saw two guys with it on Market/12th. I went up to them, looked at the bike and one of them said “Nice bike, huh?” And I was like, “yeah, it’s mine.”

I picked it up, and started walking away with it. The guys chased me. One knocked me to the ground grabbing the bike, the other fucking pepper sprayed me in the face. EMTs and SFPD (eventually) showed up.

The only bright side to the story is that (hopefully) the police are taking it more seriously because of the felony assault. So, if someone spotted the bike they could contact me or SFPD.

Wow.

Here’s the bike (since this photo was taken the saddle was replaced and is now brown):

32 Responses to “First they steal your bike, then they assault you and pepper spray you”

  1. uhh says:

    They might not have been the thieves. Maybe one of them bought it at the flea market. If someone walked up to me and just picked up my bike and walked away, I’d chase them, and do what I could to get it back. Even pepper spray them.

    I’m not defending bike thieves, BTW. These guys might not have been bike thieves, is all I’m saying.

  2. Baretta says:

    Only a punk ass buster treats a female like the way she was treated, so fuck them, thieves or not. Lay em out. They are ratos somewhere along the chain of crime. Worse than bike thieves, really.

    • blah says:

      >Only a punk ass buster treats a female like the way she was treated

      But it would be fine to treat a man that way? Whatever.

    • Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable says:

      Uh-huh, sure. Whatever you say, Internet Tough Guy.

      • Samanther says:

        HAHA you are the worst ITG I’ve ever encountered. Actually you’re more of a PAP Passive-Aggressive Poster-boy. What the person said is true – perhaps the macho talk was a little extreme for SF blognerds, though. I can see that.

        • Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable says:

          Oh yeah, that’s me. I’m constantly on the internet talking about how I’d beat people up. You’ve got me down to a T.

          Pff.

  3. Eon says:

    That’s awful, sorry for your horrible experience with these cretins. If you see a stolen bike, call 911. Also make sure you and all your friends have their bikes registered (safebikes.org).

  4. Morgan says:

    I’m so sorry about your bike being stolen and then getting assaulted. Thanks Eon for the response about registering at SAFE Bikes. Please make sure to register your stolen bike and also follow these steps at http://nebula.wsimg.com/b7404d641cdf7a401f7fdac5eafbcd1d?AccessKeyId=0C1B8FD6D4FFBE629CCB&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
    We can also post your bicycle at parkstation.org. Also please follow @SFSAFE and @SFPDAntiBikeTheft on Twitter. If you have any questions please let me know.
    Thanks, Morgan St. Clair SAFE Bikes Director

  5. Jocelyn says:

    Everyone, I should mention that I didn’t just happen across the bike. When it was stolen, I tweeted it to @SFPDBikeTheft. It was retweeted, and a Good Samaritan somehow recognized it, and tweeted both SFPD and me.

    Both he and I called the police, before I approached the bike. They did not respond to the scene. Period.

    And to the above genius “ugh”, I didn’t just pick it up. When I told him it was min, e and had been stolen three days before, he laughed. Whether or not he was the thief himself, he couldn’t have *not* known it was stolen. He was in possession of stolen property – in and of itself a crime.

    Also, the bike is registered with SAFE, but I’m not sure that that makes me feel any more confident in it’s retrieval.

    Ultimately, it was a punk-ass move for two dudes to assault me to re-steal my shit. Fuck them.

    Thanks, Allan for posting this.

    If you happen to see the bike on your commute, please tweet me @JocelynDraw and/or @SFPSBikeTheft.

    Thank you!

  6. Chris says:

    What did these people look like?

  7. Jocelyn says:

    Chris, they were two black guys.

    The guy with my bike was the younger of the two. Early 20s, I’d say, shoulder length dreads.

    His buddy, the guy who actually pepper sprayed me, was older, but due to (suspected) drug use, looked a bit bedraggled, so I couldn’t begin to estimate his age.

  8. John says:

    Please call Market Street Cycles regarding this bike and this incident.

    We’re at 255-2453.

  9. tim k says:

    Bad idea to approach these guys without the police. Not that it justifies their actions, but not very smart thing to do.
    i hope you get your bike back.

  10. Jocelyn says:

    Thanks for your random judgment, Tim, but as mentioned (more than once) THE POLICE DID NOT COME.

    Also, my bike wasn’t a one-off. I needed to know it was mine before making an accusation, no?

  11. Bin says:

    Allan, my bike was just stolen on Tuesday night :(

    If anyone sees the pink and yellow Merckx let me know!

  12. slobdog says:

    FWIW had my Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30 with tubus racks stolen this easter.

    http://bp0.blogger.com/_J5xfe7T5Tj8/SBpDRIqw1fI/AAAAAAAAAAU/YUUstpW7Wxs/s1600-h/IMGP1071.JPG

    Any leads appreciated.

    • slobdog says:

      Oh yeah. I rode up to Florence Oregon on it and then east along the Northern Tier making my way to NYC on it in 2008 so it does have some sentimental value – the frame.

      May these thieves stomachs roast on spits in hell.

    • slobdog says:

      Bike has been recovered! Thank you Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department! Thankyou http://stolenbicycleregistry.com/ for finding it!

  13. what says:

    Strategy: keep subjecting yourself to worse and worse crimes until SFPD responds!

    If they don’t care about the bike theft or the assault, you’re gonna have to up your game.

  14. lara says:

    I also got pepper-sprayed in the face by a would be bike thief. About a month ago as I was leaving my apt. for a morning dog-walk and a guy was standing outside our place (in an alley) trying to cover-up identifying markers on a blk. bike with a paint pen. My dog started barking at the guy. We were about 10-20″ away. He asked what the dog was barking at and I said sometimes she just barks at people she doesn’t know. As I took my phone out to get a photo of the guy and the bike, he took out pepper-spray. First he sprayed towards my dog and missed, but as I was taking a photo, got me right in the eyes and fled with the bike.

  15. tim k says:

    i think we all learned a lesson here.. dont try to be a fucking hero.

  16. AN says:

    It happened today too- right in the middle of financial district (Sansome and Bush/Pine) at lunch time. The thief tried to steal a bike, the guy fought back and the thief pepper sprayed him, then another guy came to try and help and he got pepper sprayed too. The thief got away. I didn’t see it happen, just saw all the commotion after and the cops/ambulance, etc… This guy is pretty gutsy to do it in the middle of the FiDi at lunch time with all those people around.