Ever been bikejacked?

In article ,
"Robert Canon" writes:
Some of the replies seem a bit classist. This implicit, or not so implicit,
association between poverty and crime just doesn't hold true from my
experience. I live on the east side of Austin and virtually my entire
commute is through lower income minority neighborhoods, including my own.
I ride home in the evening sometimes and go by two housing projects and
several low income apartments and have never been hassled by pedestrians. I
have about the same issues with drivers I have in any other part of town,
maybe a little less.

While I share your opinions about 'profiling' and
arbitrarily linking poverty with crime, I really don't
see any classism in the posts. I note the original post
mentions the incident occurred in an industrial area,
rather than a residential neighbourhood.

The railroad tracks evokes an image in my mind with
warehouses, factories, etc -- the sort of place with
lots of hidy-holes, shadowed areas and escape routes,
where the more unsavoury types like to congregate at
night, to try to evade the scrutiny of the police.

Sometimes off-street bike paths can provide such
hidy-holes, too. Especially if they're far away
from residences and traffic, and/or closed-in by
bushes and trees.

....

As far as the OP's question, I think he responded appropriately.

I think so too. The only other option would have been
confrontation, and I wouldn't have liked the numbers.


cheers,
Tom

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curt wrote:
I carry a 380 with me. I don't have time to mess around.

"I been to the edge,
an' there I stood an' looked down
You know I lost a lot of friends there baby,
I got no time to mess around"

the rest of it can be found he

http://www.lyricstime.com/lyrics/33640.html
--
david reuteler

In article , Max wrote:
David Kerber wrote:

Other than pulling out a gun and blowing one of them away (so they don't
hassle bikes in the future), I can't think of much you could have done
better.

if you can't avoid, accelerate, and hit him center of mass at full
speed.

I actually considered that if I didn't think I could get
around him. You'd suspect that in a game of chicken they'd
leap out of the way at the last moment, but maybe not -- and
that would have been dicey with the other people around.

-- Dan

--
Dan Cosley * http://www.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/)
GroupLens Research Lab, Univ of MN (http://movielens.umn.edu/ * 612.624.8372)
*** Just a foot soldier in the Army of Truth ***

In article , Robert Canon wrote:

As far as the OP's question, I think he responded appropriately. Discretion
is usually the better part of valor. Actually, though, it sounds more like
some guys drinking and one in particular acting stupid kidding around in an
inappropriate manner.

That was one of my hypotheses, but it seemed better in the course
of the action to assume they meant it to some degree.

-- Dan

--
Dan Cosley * http://www.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/)
GroupLens Research Lab, Univ of MN (http://movielens.umn.edu/ * 612.624.8372)
*** Just a foot soldier in the Army of Truth ***

So "curt" says:

I carry a 380 with me. I don't have time to mess around.

Apparently common practice for the Columbian National Team.

jeffb

In article , Matt O'Toole wrote:


You should have insisted on filing a formal report. That way you
know the incident has been logged, descriptions of suspects noted,
etc., in case someone else has a problem. Otherwise, there's a risk
it will be forgotten among the piles of other "random" crime reports
the police hear every day.

I asked the officer if a crime had been committed based on my description
and he never actually answered the question. He claimed that they'd
send a squad out, which I'm assuming would be logged. As for a formal
report, I didn't think about that; if he'd said there was a crime involved,
I'd have probably tried to be more formal. I've never had to file
a police report, though it sounds like a bit of an ordeal.

I did call for the reason you said, what if some 12 year old was riding
along later that night?

BTW, where was this, so others can beware?

Minneapolis, Marshall Street, between Broadway and Lowry.

I've had people try to grab me as I rode by, both in the US and
Australia, but fortunately I was able to keep going.

Did you do anything besides ride off? Did you file report(s)?

were pretty common for awhile in southern CA, along the river trails
through Santa Ana, Orange, and Long Beach.

There was a report last year about the Cedar Lake bike trail, which
goes from the west side into downtown, that some kids were hanging
out in an isolated overpass area and harassing people. I rode it
occasionally and never encountered them, but trails in general
seem like places with lots of isolation and thus suitable for
thuggery. Another reason for the MUP-haters to hate on, I guess.

-- Dan

--
Dan Cosley * http://www.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/)
GroupLens Research Lab, Univ of MN (http://movielens.umn.edu/ * 612.624.8372)
*** Just a foot soldier in the Army of Truth ***

"Dan Cosley" wrote
Robert Canon wrote:

As far as the OP's question, I think he responded appropriately.
Discretion
is usually the better part of valor. Actually, though, it sounds more
like
some guys drinking and one in particular acting stupid kidding around in
an
inappropriate manner.

That was one of my hypotheses, but it seemed better in the course
of the action to assume they meant it to some degree.

You bet! That's not a hypothesis you want to test! Ha ha!

Well they say things go in cycles . I figure it is going to be like the
old west out there....heck the more I think about it, we are already living
like that.

Curt

"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
...
curt wrote:

I carry a 380 with me. I don't have time to mess around.

Better not, if you're gonna beat 'em to the draw...

Matt O.

Dan Cosley wrote:
[snip]

i just caught that you're from minneapolis/saint paul. where was this
(assuming this was where it happened)? mostly curious, i've never had a
problem in the cities and i used to live in the phillips neighbourhood
and later powderhorn and fields/regina and rode through north mpls to work
in plymouth daily. iirc, you said it was an industrial area. yikes, do we
have any of those in the cities?

i'm gonna try it make it back for may day this year, too. haven't missed
that since 1990.

http://www.heartofthebeasttheatre.org/mayday/index.html

gotta get me some, uhh, brownies.
--
david reuteler

On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 21:01:08 +0000 (UTC), Dan Cosley
wrote:

In article , Matt O'Toole wrote:


You should have insisted on filing a formal report. That way you
know the incident has been logged, descriptions of suspects noted,
etc., in case someone else has a problem. Otherwise, there's a risk
it will be forgotten among the piles of other "random" crime reports
the police hear every day.

I asked the officer if a crime had been committed based on my description
and he never actually answered the question. He claimed that they'd
send a squad out, which I'm assuming would be logged. As for a formal
report, I didn't think about that; if he'd said there was a crime involved,
I'd have probably tried to be more formal. I've never had to file
a police report, though it sounds like a bit of an ordeal.

Hmm. Consider whether they'd have offered to file a report if you'd been
behind the wheel of a 1500lb deadly weapon...er, wait. ;-

Seriously, though, a threatened 'car jacking'; would that not be a crime or
incident worthy of a formal report? Why not on a bike - the citizenry is
similarly in jeopardy, eh?

I'm surprized, though, that nobody's played the Kryptonite Lock card, heh,
or at least suggested wild brandish of a sturdy hand pump.

Best solution, though? When you get home, why not round up the homeys and
get in the car and come back and see if you can't discourage such behavior
for the future. ;-)

-B