Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Bicycle thief vigilantes

Alfred locks his Cannondale up outside the cafe where he's eating. He sees a guy pull out a drill and start drilling out his u lock! Alfred and his friends run out and this is what happens [some language and violence].

Bike Thief vs Street Justis from triple on Vimeo.



Via Prolly.
Posted by at

18 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    If they actually believed the Police would do anything I suspect they could have performed a citizens arrest and called the cops who would then arrest and charge the suspect. Trouble is, stealing a bike is probably a misdemeanor, unless it's a really expensive bike, which makes citizens arrests iffy at best.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    yeah! Cops would not do anything probably.
    If it was a janked out car, or even a Benz, would the 'street justice' be OK? At least with car theft, no matter how clapped out it is, there is a protocol for the cops to follow, and the courts to follow. With bikes, there's nothing. Thats why we are so sensitive when our bikes are stolen. The Law is hardly ever on our side when it happens.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Duncan WatsonSeptember 8, 2009 at 2:34 PM

    For a beat down it was remarkably calm. The thief certainly didn't get the "shit" kicked out of him. That was very much a warning. Bonus points for the drill that falls to the ground early in the video.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yokota FritzSeptember 8, 2009 at 2:39 PM

    I don't condone taking the law in your own hands, but police inaction leads to vigilante 'justice' exactly like this.

    How effectively do NYPD take care of bike theft? In San Francisco it's almost completely ignored.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Spirit of the SeasonSeptember 8, 2009 at 2:58 PM

    The only thing wrong with their behavior is that they didn't repeatedly kick him when he was on the sidewalk.

    ReplyDelete
  6. bikesgonewildSeptember 8, 2009 at 3:00 PM

    ...hmmm...anything of this nature is kinda ugly but then again everyone here is quite right in saying that 99.9% of the time, the police aren't gonna do squat...

    ...likely as not, a cop would prob'ly say well, he didn't actually steal the bike, carrying a drill isn't illegal & technically the "perp" could press "assault n' battery" against you guys for attacking him...whatta ya think a' that !!!"

    ...i agree w' duncan watson...guy got off lucky because the attackers certainly didn't "kick the shit out of him"...

    ...to their credit, the message was consistent, "don't steal bikes, bro !!!"...

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 3:09 PM

    That's far from vigilantism. The guy was protecting not just his bike, but since he is a bike messenger, his livelihood as well. And anyone who has ever biked in NYC knows the police doesn't do anything to bike thieves. Even when they are caught red handed during the act or with a van full of stolen bikes. They walk away with just a warning.

    ReplyDelete
  8. bikesgonewildSeptember 8, 2009 at 3:12 PM

    ...i'd also point out the helmet that the guy is "wearing"...kids helmet...prob'ly thought it made him look like a cyclist...

    ...think he got that legally ???...

    ...or maybe he was pretending he's a "mutant ninja turtle" wearing that thing...not very "ninja-ish", certainly "turtle-ish"...lucky they didn't "mutate" his ass way more than they did...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yokota FritzSeptember 8, 2009 at 4:04 PM

    That bicycle helmet made a pretty handle to yank the perp around with.

    Will this guy consider the error of his ways and repent? Or will he just be that much more careful to pick unguarded targets?

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 4:36 PM

    i think they should have held him for the police and have him arested, but now after seeing him getting F*** up now he can have the other two guys arested for battery.
    the best thing was to have him conviced,serve time and community service for 5-10 years.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 5:43 PM

    Two words: pepper spray. Ideally you'd also have handcuffs so you can lock him to the bike rack until police arrive.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2009 at 8:27 PM

    I remember a local case of vigilantism about 10 years ago where the vigilante hit the victim, and the victim fell and hit his head on the concrete and died. The vigilante was subsequently convicted of homicide. Once you've protected your person or your property, that's where you should stop. The revenge, street justice, lesson teaching, etc., should be left to tv and movies.

    ReplyDelete
  13. bikesgonewildSeptember 9, 2009 at 1:51 AM

    ...anon 9:27pm...

    ..."Once you've protected your person or your property, that's where you should stop. The revenge, street justice, lesson teaching, etc., should be left to tv and movies." or rather how about the police & the judicial system as a deterrent but therein lies the crux...
    ...as repeatedly pointed out, in general, two of society's greater powers won't do squat...

    ...so, i'd suggest your stance is one of high moral ground indeed & while it's both intelligent & understandable, you don't seem to account for human emotions or reactions..

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2009 at 5:07 AM

    Don't wear capris, bro.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Curtis CorlewSeptember 9, 2009 at 5:48 AM

    Video removed. Is there an alternate URL?

    ReplyDelete
  16. ex courierSeptember 9, 2009 at 3:01 PM

    Re. the first comment, obviously the thief. The bike is the courier's livelihood, not just a posession. They let him off really easy, too.

    If the police don't enforce the law (and many jurisdictions don't even investigate bike theft), the state has violated the social contract and forefeits its authority. Then vigilante justisce is a moral right.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Erik OrgellSeptember 10, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    The bike thief got what he deserved and got off kind of easy really. As others have noted, this wasn't just a bike for the owner, this was how he did his job and earned a living.

    Bike thieves suck and I wouldn't mind a few being made an example of to discourage others.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yokota FritzSeptember 10, 2009 at 10:07 PM

    @Curtis -- I've replaced the video with another (in case you have't already found it yourself elsewhere)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)