Woman steals own bike back from thief

By Hum
in Real World News

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Grand Master

Hum

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A woman in Vancouver whose bike was stolen discovered someone was selling it on Craigslist and went about stealing the bike back in a hilarious tale she shared on Facebook and Reddit.

Kayla Smith had her bike stolen from a friend?s house last Wednesday and posted on Facebook, ?that I was disappointed and sad because I had worked so hard for the bike. I absolutely love, love, love my bike. So needless to say I was choked.?

She called police to report the theft and phoned the bike shop to retrieve the bike?s serial numbers.

An hour later, a friend called her and said, ?Dude, I think I found your bike on Craigslist.?

Smith recognized her bike in the post and called police again but was told it might be another day before an officer got back to her.

?This guy is selling my bike right now!!!? Smith explained. ?I am not missing this opportunity waiting for a call. So I jump into action.?

Smith made arrangements to meet the seller at a McDonald?s.

?When I pulled into the parking lot I still had no plan of attack,? she said. ?I got there and saw the guy with my bike. He was wearing board shorts, a raggedy tank top, and dark sketchy glasses. I noticed that it was my bike right away because of the RIDE ON stickers on the frame and the fact I have a silver handle bar plug on the left and a black one on the right ? Here is where I started thinking on my feet.?

Smith asked the guy if she could take a test ride around the parking lot.

?Yeah, just don?t ride away,? the man told her.

?Of course, I?m like, ?Don?t you worry, I won?t,?? she related. ?And then I just ride away.? :D

Classic.

?To be honest, I was shaking and freaking out,? she said. ?I ? couldn?t believe what the [heck] just happened.?

When Smith met up with a friend in another parking lot, she was giddy with excitement, jumping up and down ?like a 6-year-old getting an ice cream cone.? The thief was last seen running away from the scene.

The serial numbers did match the bike, incidentally.

?After that,? Smith said, ?I called him and personally left him a message apologizing for not sticking around to pay him for the bike HE [FREAKING] STOLE FROM ME!!!?

Canadian police urged people not to take matters such as these into their own hands, but in this instance, it all worked out. Hysterically so.

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Grand Master

astropheed Veteran

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That could have went really wrong, is it really worth it over a Bike? It's just a Bike. Besides, she already had his contact info. Although I semi-applaud her for doing this, I don't necessarily think it was the right idea. Pretty funny though, like I wonder if his first though was, "Ah, she stole my bike!".

Grand Master

Nagisan

Posted
Posted

That could have went really wrong, is it really worth it over a Bike? It's just a Bike. Besides, she already had his contact info. Although I semi-applaud her for doing this, I don't necessarily think it was the right idea. Pretty funny though, like I wonder if his first though was, "Ah, she stole my bike!".

I was thinking the same thing, he could have easily jumped in his vehicle and chased her down, or he could have beat the hell out of her car or something (she did say she pulled into the parking lot, so either a friend dropped her off or she drove there, in which case she left her car with a thief to recover a bike or left her friend sitting in a car next to the thief).

 

She could have easily gotten the cops involved, when she and the cops showed up to the parking lot he would have either started running or stuck around and the serial number the bike shop gave her would have matched up and he would have been arrested.

Grand Master

Sandor

Posted
Posted

That could have went really wrong, is it really worth it over a Bike? It's just a Bike. Besides, she already had his contact info. Although I semi-applaud her for doing this, I don't necessarily think it was the right idea. Pretty funny though, like I wonder if his first though was, "Ah, she stole my bike!".

What could have went wrong? Taking it for a ride gives perfect opportunity to be far enough away before the dude notices what has happened

Grand Master

webeagle12

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Canadian police urged people not to take matters such as these into their own hands, but in this instance, it all worked out. Hysterically so.

 

Yeah ok well then Canadian police maybe should get their butts from a chair and helped her right away. 

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jkenn99

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I was thinking the same thing, he could have easily jumped in his vehicle and chased her down, or he could have beat the hell out of her car or something (she did say she pulled into the parking lot, so either a friend dropped her off or she drove there, in which case she left her car with a thief to recover a bike or left her friend sitting in a car next to the thief).

 

She could have easily gotten the cops involved, when she and the cops showed up to the parking lot he would have either started running or stuck around and the serial number the bike shop gave her would have matched up and he would have been arrested.

Haha you've never visited Vancouver. Hundreds of bikes are stolen every day. The police couldn't care less about a bike. Anyways, the thief would have rode the bike to meet, since he probably doesn't have a car (he would have to steal a LOT of bikes to be able to afford car insurance here), so there's pretty much no chance for him to chase her down.

Grand Master

zhangm Supervisor

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I wonder if she could prove she was the bike owner, if she needed to.

I wonder if you read the article.

 

She called police to report the theft and phoned the bike shop to retrieve the bike?s serial numbers.

The serial numbers did match the bike, incidentally.

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