Pyga thief caught after hot pursuit! 19/09/2015

[leaboy]

On Saturday, 19/09/2015, myself and a friend, JP, decided we wanted to go and ride Table Mountain since he had just gotten himself a brand new Pyga Pascoe a week ago, and the weather was just too good to pass up. We decided to meat at his house near High Level Road in Greenpoint at 10am. I arrived but he was still on his way back from picking his bike up from Revolution cycles, so I unloaded my bike and got ready to ride. JP arrived with his bike in the back of his bakkie which was completely covered by the tonneau cover, having only 10cm of the bikes handle bars sticking out because they were too wide to fit under. JP quickly ran up to grab his stuff from inside his house, I remembered I needed to grab a plaster for my finger quickly as I had cut it unloading my bike. JP told me to come up and grab the plasters as he was busy.

 

Not wanting to leave my bike out in the road I wheeled it up his stairs into his house. As I got through his door (so JP’s bike was alone no more than 20 sec) I said, “Jeez boet, are you sure your bike is ok out there”. Two seconds later I heard JP scream, my name. I immediately ran down the stairs and into the road thinking he was joking, but when I got out I saw the bakkie cover ripped off and JP’s bike wasn’t there, and neither was JP. Unfortunately he lives right next to Clyde road, which is a long steep road straight down to Somerset road. I ran to look down Clyde road and all I could see is JP running completely barefoot and shirtless, at full speed down the road trying to catch the guy. My adrenaline immediately kicked in and I knew I had to go grab my bike. I ran to his house and up his stairs, grabbed my bike, ran down the stairs so fast I slipped like a muppet onto my back, luckily not hurting myself, got up and ran outside, jumped onto my bike and bombed down Clyde road at full speed thinking this is CRAZY! Get to the bottom of Clyde, only to see a Metro officer standing next to his car laughing and pointing to the right. He had obviously just seen the dude on JP’s bike, and JP running like a madman after him, but did nothing to assist. I guess he was on his lunch break. I rode straight over Somerset rode trying to spot JP to make sure I was going the right way. I could see him in the distance but could not see the guy on his bike at all. I eventually caught up with JP and he just pointed and said he went that way. Knowing that it was all up to me and that I didn’t want the story to go, “ya I chased the guy on my bike for as long as I could but I was barefoot and didn’t stand a chance, ya Jason chased him on his bike…but I guess Jason “the guy who rides mountain bikes regularly and should be fairly fit”, couldn’t keep up with the thief who was riding in flops and didn’t know how to use the gears properly.

 

I would feel like the biggest muppet this side of the equator every time someone asked what happened to JP’s bike. With that in mind I kept pedaling until I saw a figure in the distance that looked like the thief under the Greenpoint circle. Luckily he was not familiar with 1x11 yet (I guess he’s only been stealing 2x’s and 3x’s lately) and I could see him slowing down because he thought he was in the clear not knowing I was in hot pursuit. I started cranking as hard as I could until I rode at full speed straight into him, “t-boning” him. I threw the hardest punch I could straight to his jaw, knocking him to the floor, then jumped on top of him, getting into a bit of a fist fight, but was able to get him into a choke hold. Whilst I was choking him out I remember thinking jeez this dude absolutely stinks, the dam instructional videos never tell you what to do when the thief’s odor is so bad you feel as though you are the one who’s going to pass out. Luckily I was able to remain conscious and held on. I could feel the guy becoming limp as he was passing out but some old lady came over screaming, “let him go! Let the cops sort this out!” Needless to say I held on as though his head was the golden ticket to an all-expenses paid trip for whistler. A few people then started to gather around, followed by JP arriving and getting a decent, well deserved punch and kick in before getting pulled off by concerned citizens. His feet were destroyed from running barefoot on the hot road for so long, the soles of his feet were torn off, flapping all over the place. Luckily there were some paramedics nearby that were able to strap his feet up until he was able to get to the hospital. One of the bystanders called SAPS, who after about 20 minutes strolled on over. They approached and asked what JP wanted to do, saying, “do you want to open a case?”, JP obviously said hell yes, to which they replied, “ eish, ya but then you have to give a statement”, as though giving a statement was such a task that it simply was not worth it. They then got the thief up from the floor and took him by the arm towards their car, stopping to tell us that at 1pm, they are going home, so we had to go to the station before then if we wanted to lay a charge. Haha, we couldn’t believe it. Luckily I was able to capture it in the video. All in all the bike was ok, a few cosmetic scratches, but considering the bike was not insured….JP was stoked just to have it back.

 

Here’s the link to the video I took as the police were taking the thief away, as well as some pictures I took at the “scene of the crime/capture” haha.

 

Hope you all enjoyed my little essay!

 

 

awesome to hear you got the bugger!

got the 411 from JP yesterday. His feet were looking rather tender!

[Stretch]

now you wait for the bill from Er24..............

[Cranked Cycles cc]

There are so many facets of this story to comment on,

 

Firstly all bravery aside JP & co (and yes we're friends) you guys took a risk. Life over bike mmmmmm but honestly I would have done the same.

 

As to leaving the bike "unattended" sadly that should not be an issue.......

 

More disturbing is the lack of support and conviction by our officers of the law. The punishment does not fit the crime so crime continues.

 

Glad you got you own back.

 

Heal up JP and see you on the trails ...

[nonky]

After my experience with the pride of Cpt SAPS (house breaking & assault with deadly weapon), I would recommend that you beat the living crap out the next guy you catch, because the SAPS is not going to DO ANYTHING AT ALL.

.

Guy who attacked my wife and daughter with a knife in a public park was arrested by a good Samaritan and handed over to the SAPS.  WE did not hear a thing from the SAPS - no court case or charges at all.

 

They simply let the bastard go.

[Pure Savage]

Just hope this guy does not say he was "assaulted" and tries to lay a claim against the op or get's off as he is now a "victim"!

 

For that to happen the police would have to take a statement, and its nearly lunch, and nearly the public holiday, so not going to happen.

[Joe Massapuss]

For that to happen the police would have to take a statement, and its nearly lunch, and nearly the public holiday, so not going to happen.

hahaha, you are too right. People forget that the Police have places to be.....to relax, and lunches to eat!

[CarbonKid]

So the saying "ride it like you stole it".............didn't quite work out for this chop!! hahahaah lekker boyce.....awwraait.......well done on chasing down the crack head.....the problem is some idiot out there will buy this for R500,00 instead of getting him arrested for being in possession of a R50K bicycle. you are an accessory if you buy a hot bike. Glad you guys sorted him out, he still looks fresh though, a few more klaps would have been welcome!!!

[Spez247]

Well done on the recovery. It appears that if you hadn't - no one else would have.

 

Cops make me sick....

The fact that they took this thief away, and probably put him in the back of the vehicle, with that bag still in his possession....

Then there is surprise & outrage that yet another cop gets shot, simply amazes me...

 

These guys featured have no clue or pride in what they are doing. Its a job with a paycheck at month end. Put in as little as possible, and get the max out...

 

Get a 10mm cable, and a decent lock, guys. Avoids unexpected cardio & skinshedding.

[Patchelicious]

Post the "pursuit" Strava file, would be good to see your hr zones, maybe you even set a few PRs

[Joe Massapuss]

So the saying "ride it like you stole it".............didn't quite work out for this chop!! hahahaah lekker boyce.....awwraait.......well done on chasing down the crack head.....the problem is some idiot out there will buy this for R500,00 instead of getting him arrested for being in possession of a R50K bicycle. you are an accessory if you buy a hot bike. Glad you guys sorted him out, he still looks fresh though, a few more klaps would have been welcome!!!

 

haha no i promise when i was holding him down there was blood all around his mouth from the punches etc. Obviously we both would have loved to get in more of a beating, and i assure you we tried, but unfortunately there were too many people there with far too much faith in the police.

 

I know some people are saying its not worth it, and to an extent i agree, if someone came  at me with a gun, the bike is yours, *** il even adjust the seat and show you how to lock and unlock the suspension, haha!

 

But when it actually happens to you or a friend, and adrenaline kicks in, the last thing on your mind as you see the dude cruising down with your bike, perhaps even poping a wheelie with joy on his new toy, is "yoh luckily im ok". 

 

Again if when i got him to the ground and we started fighting, he pulled a gun or something i would have acted differently, but im pretty confident in my abilities to take control of a situation like that and knew that if I didn't catch him, the bike would be gone and the police would be of no help at all.

 

It's different for everyone, but if someone takes my stuff, you best believe I am going to do everything in my power to get it back! 50k+ is a lot of money to lose and I know for me it would mean my cycling career is over, I could not afford another bike like that without saving for a few years!

[intern]

Read my statement correctly. No blame made at the OP. More pointing out their naiveté.

The OP even mentioned it as a potential problem - which it was. Fact it is, it would've been avoided if the bike was locked or taken inside. But then all the heroics wouldn't have taken place and we wouldn't have this wonderful story... Personally I'd rather not have had the incident then have to write a story about an incident.

Relax. Have your coffee. Have a good Monday.

I'm perfectly calm, dude. Calmer than you are.

 

[Tammy123]

Hi J, 

 

I am Tammy from News24. One of our readers let us know about this incident and I would like to get in touch with you. Can you please send me your contact details or pop me a mail at tammy.petersen@24.com soonest?

 

Many thanks.

 

Regards,

Tammy

[Odinson]

Tread carefully, j_lin13. News24 has got your story now.

[Sepia]

After my experience with the pride of Cpt SAPS (house breaking & assault with deadly weapon), I would recommend that you beat the living crap out the next guy you catch, because the SAPS is not going to DO ANYTHING AT ALL.

.

Guy who attacked my wife and daughter with a knife in a public park was arrested by a good Samaritan and handed over to the SAPS.  WE did not hear a thing from the SAPS - no court case or charges at all.

 

They simply let the bastard go.

 

If this ever happens to me, the guy would not be arrested.....Guaranteed.

(Maybe I will but not the perpetrator.)

[AuctionLamb]

Dude...how hard did you punch?

 

Looks like you guys are worse off than the guy who stole the bike.

[Sepia]

When he stood up from the deck without assistance....no man guys.  There were no stains on the pavement of any sort.

Just saying.

Well done on getting the odd one in though.