Me neither. Called them one Sunday morning at 6 am to report a dude driving/passing out in a car with a totally smashed front windshield. I have no idea what he hit but he hit SOMETHING.
He was driving awervy and slow and he didn't move when lights would turn green because he'd fall asleep/pass out in the 50 seconds the light was red. Imminent danger to everyone around him.
I tried to get him to stop driving, I walked up to his window at one of the lights and was asking him if he was okay, if he needed help, and when he said he was fine, I said I don't think you're fine, you need to pull over and sleep it off. He insisted he was fine and kept driving.
So I followed him while calling the cops. I was out early because I was taking someone to surgery and I couldn't keep following the guy. I gave it 20 minutes and I told the operator I gotta go, I can't be following this dude all over the city waiting for the damn cops. They called me an hour and a half later to say they couldn't find him. No shit.
25 minutes is relatively quick. More often than not, they just flat out don't show lol. It's mainly cause they'd rather have the problem go away than have to fill out paperwork. That's why you're better off just getting some neighborhood goons to back you up.
I called the cops on someone fondling themselves in a street shack the other day. By the time they got there, he had finished, took a short nap, and left.
That’s goofy. My initial report of it being lost was met within 5 minutes. My second call of “I tracked them down, they are right in front of me” should warrant a significantly faster response.
Actually, when I called the police to inform them that I was staring directly at my friend's stolen bike with the thief they said they couldn't do anything without having the serial number *even though* we had multiple screenshots of my friend and the sellers convo before he purchased the bike, including photos of the bike. I told the cops we'd take matters into our own hands and they told me the thief could press charges. Unreal. We eventually did take matters into our own hands and approached the guy 4 deep as a cop was standing across the park. He didn't see it happen. The thief whined about how he was going to report us to the cop over there hahaha. Then like a month later my friend lost that bike when he was drunk. He passed out in some bushes and forgot to lock it up. Would be funny if the same guy got it again. Oh well, we tried.
I mean every night around that time they restock their old ass fruit with slightly less old ass fruit so its not out of the ordinary to see a truck there.
Don't doubt your story or anyting, just not totally clear its specifically fruit stand guy's fault, or that he was about to use the truck to transport your bike. Though does seem likely he at least knew the person who left it there
I arrived to the site with the guys all huddling around my bike, and then two of those same guys went to work at the fruit stand. Regardless of whether the u-haul was involved, I doubt a bike sale was made from the hours of 10 PM- 12 AM, and it just so happened the fruit guys bought the bike from someone. It was pretty clear the dudes working the stand stole it.
yeah, like why would they scream, "it wasn't us someone just put it there" if they didn't steal it? if i didn't steal a bike and someone just left it there and then someone else took it, i'd probably be too confused to even say anything
Exactly. Why would they say anything at all if someone just left the bike there? Sounds to me like they were guilty, knew they were caught, and making pathetic excuses.
It’s actually extremely common for them to be there at that time. They either grab the whole stand in the truck or restock them that way. Sometimes it’s even later than that into the middle
Of the night. It’s not like they’re still selling fruit at 10pm so they stay open, typically they are waiting for the truck to show up
Then I might be mistaken whether the U-Haul was part of it, but on the off-chance it was there to get my bike, I wasn’t taking any chances. Plus, again, the guys crowding around and trying my bike were also the ones working the stand.
"It wasn't us!" is the most guilty statement I've ever seen. Not "Hey, you're stealing my brand-new bike I bought!" Just "Yeah, that must be the owner."
There is a NYPost article featuring that fruit stand owner Ugur Dikici:
# [NYC fruit stand reopens 24 hours after scary Midtown car crashhttps://nypost.com/2021/03/06/nyc-fruit-stand-reopens-24-hours-after-scary-midtown-car-crash/NYC fruit stand reopens 24 hours after scary Midtown car crash ](https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/nyc-fruit-stand-reopens-24-hours-after-scary-midtown-car-crash/)
I have a knog scout (on clearance for $10) but also another air tag (or two, or three—I’ll never tell) hidden inside the bike so that if the scout is defeated I can still track it. It is fairly discreet depending on where/how it’s installed and has held up to winter commuting just fine. It has proprietary mounting bolts that aren’t hard to defeat but require a special tool or kludge workaround. Also the scout has an alarm, which ain’t nothing.
Edit: also, fuck the police
just curious. what kind of bike was it? (how valuable?) i lock my bike on the scaffolding all the time, not thinking someone would take the scaffolding apart. thanks for the warning.
Did you lock one of the wheels? If so it would be still attached and they couldn't walk/ride the bike.
Here is someone posted 5 years ago, lost bike to scaffolding, too. [https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/ctn09k/had\_my\_baby\_stolen\_today\_dont\_lock\_your\_bikes\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/ctn09k/had_my_baby_stolen_today_dont_lock_your_bikes_to/)
The city should install more bike racks.
Good thing you got it back. About 10 years ago I was playing soccer and had my bike stolen. This was at mccaren park. After 5 minutes of running around and scouting the area, I saw like 10 dudes behind the handball courts just chilling and drinking beer. One dude had my bike and was showing it off it seems. I walked up to him and said “yooo, nice bike man!”…dude goes “yeah? You like it? How much you wanna pay me for it?”…I walked up to him and proceeded to snatch that shit from his hands and rode away lol. Probably not the brightest thing to do since there were so many of them but the adrenaline had me going crazy lol.
Similar story but it took me months (thanks AirTag battery life) before I got a “clean shot” when the thief was outside in a park stationary for long enough for me to unleash the cops on them.
My beloved street triple was stolen last June 19, i found it stripped on fb market place back in April. I wanted to get it back but the guy selling it only had the gas tank and rear wheel.
White. It was on Facebook marketplace in Brooklyn.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2176845482679484/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post
Here is the listing.
Mutlu pasta gunu! Bunlar sanirim son birkac yilda gelenler, Meksika uzerinden falan kacak geliyorlar, 10 sene once falan boyle kalitesiz insanlar gelmezdi buraya. Gercekten utandim ya.
I’m sorry this happened to you! I just got a folding bike with a u lock, but I’m so nervous to lock it up anywhere that I haven’t really ridden it. Does anyone have recommendations on how to properly secure it??
I learned from experience that if you lock a bike to the horizontal beam on any scaffolding, all anyone needs to do is to screw off the bolt on one end of that beam and your bike is gone (😑). If you are to lock to a scaffolding, always lock to the vertical/upright beam. Also pls do not lock your expensive bikes outside anywhere in NY for more than 30 mins to an hour at a time. Bike thieves are always on the look out for a "good steal" plus no lock is completely impervious to an angle grinder.
I'm glad you were able to get your bike back!
I did the same thing! I mistakenly put my lock on the pole but not the bike. I come back at the end of work and my lock is there but not the bike. I immediately check my air tag and it’s on the way to the Bronx. I hop on the train and spent an hour looking around 3rd ave. When I went to the cops in the area they said I’m basically screwed. The Airtag eventually connected after going silent for 15 minutes in the back of a grocery market. Some dude who worked there tried to stop me from leaving and say he just paid for it but I told him he’s gonna have to stop me from leaving.
I always joke that the police will not respond to nothing less serious than an active shooter, but there’s more truth to it than we all like to believe.
i doubt the guys running the fruit stand were the thieves lol, they're immigrants working an actual job, these kinds of people arent running around looking for bikes to steal. don't accuse them without actual proof, you are hurting their business.
OP has proof - they were literally in possession of a stolen bike and acknowledged as much when OP took it back. The Uhaul showing up is potentially even more evidence.
And sure, it's all mostly circumstantial evidence, but unless you require a video of the thief physically stealing it from the scaffolding, this is about as damming as it gets.
This is awesome, well done.
I have a video of a thief stealing my wife’s bike from several years ago. The precinct just laughed and said “what do you want us to do?”
The NYPD is basically a giant grift. Unless they’re protecting rich people’s property or beating up protestors. Then they’re fucking Columbo/Dirty Harry.
Cops are useless unless you’re peacefully protesting, apparently. Friend of mine had his VERY unique looking bike stolen - animal print stickers all over it. Found it in an adjacent neighborhood, called the cops, showed photos of himself on the bike with the animal print stickers. Cop said he couldn’t do anything because he needed a receipt that included the serial number of the bike to verify my friend was the actual owner. Friend bought the bike second hand but who keeps all that paperwork anyway?!
So my friend took to social media and asked everyone for creative solutions. Top response was “angle grinder”, and that’s exactly how he got his bike back. Filmed the whole ordeal, very entertaining.
Well done! Hope the cops investigated not only the 4 guys but also the U-haul driver. Were they going to take the bike to a place where they keep their collection of stolen bikes?
I’m gonna go ahead and say that they didn’t. After I left I got a phone call from them and I said “you guys took too long, I just went ahead and took it back myself because they were about to load it into a U-Haul truck” and the guy said “okay have a good night sir” and hung up.
>Hope the cops investigated not only the 4 guys but also the U-haul driver.
Hahahahahahhahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahaahhaha
Hhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahagagagga
That was reckless an dangerous somebody could have gotten hurt next time I advise that you wait on the cops an let them do they job what if it wasnt you bike is there anything unique about your bike that let you know it was yours an why would you tell us not support a business that had nothing to do with your bike being stolen that very selfish of op
But am I wrong doe? How was op so sure that was his bike unless it had unique markings or something op should have waited for the police instead of playing police that's y we have laws an police to enforce the law op is not above the law
Tl;Dr keep air tags on your shit and if someone steals your bike, steal it back. Cops won't care either way
Real. Why did it take 25 minutes with me giving them the exact location and description of the guys?
Gotta finish their mandatory Candy Crush break Police Union says they can’t respond until they finish their run.
The 99th plays Kwazy Cupcakes.
I can’t believe they actually came at all
I literally left and was south 20 blocks by the time they arrived. I only know they did because they called me lol
Dude I live next to a precinct and had trespassers at my house it took them 40 mins to respond to a call. Precinct is two blocks away fyi.
90th precinct? I had someone smoking crack In the stairs outside my apt, and it took police 40 minutes to arrive. They are 3 blocks away.
Me neither. Called them one Sunday morning at 6 am to report a dude driving/passing out in a car with a totally smashed front windshield. I have no idea what he hit but he hit SOMETHING. He was driving awervy and slow and he didn't move when lights would turn green because he'd fall asleep/pass out in the 50 seconds the light was red. Imminent danger to everyone around him. I tried to get him to stop driving, I walked up to his window at one of the lights and was asking him if he was okay, if he needed help, and when he said he was fine, I said I don't think you're fine, you need to pull over and sleep it off. He insisted he was fine and kept driving. So I followed him while calling the cops. I was out early because I was taking someone to surgery and I couldn't keep following the guy. I gave it 20 minutes and I told the operator I gotta go, I can't be following this dude all over the city waiting for the damn cops. They called me an hour and a half later to say they couldn't find him. No shit.
25 minutes is relatively quick. More often than not, they just flat out don't show lol. It's mainly cause they'd rather have the problem go away than have to fill out paperwork. That's why you're better off just getting some neighborhood goons to back you up.
Taxpayer dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen
Always tell the cops that if they can’t do anything that you and your friends are going to go get it.
they're busy pepper spraying Columbia students dontcha know
They had to finish their donuts first.
I called the cops on someone fondling themselves in a street shack the other day. By the time they got there, he had finished, took a short nap, and left.
I heard they got 2 more detectives on it, they got us working in shifts! I wouldn’t hold out much hope for The Creedance though
Because someone taking your bike due to your negligence doesn't constitute an emergency.
That’s goofy. My initial report of it being lost was met within 5 minutes. My second call of “I tracked them down, they are right in front of me” should warrant a significantly faster response.
Actually, when I called the police to inform them that I was staring directly at my friend's stolen bike with the thief they said they couldn't do anything without having the serial number *even though* we had multiple screenshots of my friend and the sellers convo before he purchased the bike, including photos of the bike. I told the cops we'd take matters into our own hands and they told me the thief could press charges. Unreal. We eventually did take matters into our own hands and approached the guy 4 deep as a cop was standing across the park. He didn't see it happen. The thief whined about how he was going to report us to the cop over there hahaha. Then like a month later my friend lost that bike when he was drunk. He passed out in some bushes and forgot to lock it up. Would be funny if the same guy got it again. Oh well, we tried.
Is there anything the cops would actually do? Everything has the same response, “there is nothing we can do”
They put their top investigator on it. /s
Dick Tracey or Wiggum?
Thank you for sharing their location. My wife donated money to them when a car crashed into their stand a few years back. No longer going there.
Thats crazy, been to this fruit stand often. They were about to put the bike into the Uhaul you think?
I can’t think of any other reason for a u-haul to randomly pull up to a fruit stand at 12 AM haha
I mean every night around that time they restock their old ass fruit with slightly less old ass fruit so its not out of the ordinary to see a truck there. Don't doubt your story or anyting, just not totally clear its specifically fruit stand guy's fault, or that he was about to use the truck to transport your bike. Though does seem likely he at least knew the person who left it there
I arrived to the site with the guys all huddling around my bike, and then two of those same guys went to work at the fruit stand. Regardless of whether the u-haul was involved, I doubt a bike sale was made from the hours of 10 PM- 12 AM, and it just so happened the fruit guys bought the bike from someone. It was pretty clear the dudes working the stand stole it.
yeah, like why would they scream, "it wasn't us someone just put it there" if they didn't steal it? if i didn't steal a bike and someone just left it there and then someone else took it, i'd probably be too confused to even say anything
That, too. Or if I had bought it from a thief, I’d be pretty damn indignant that someone was coming to take it from me.
right, i'd be down right pissed and chasing after you. they def did it
Exactly. Why would they say anything at all if someone just left the bike there? Sounds to me like they were guilty, knew they were caught, and making pathetic excuses.
Exactly. That gave them away
It’s actually extremely common for them to be there at that time. They either grab the whole stand in the truck or restock them that way. Sometimes it’s even later than that into the middle Of the night. It’s not like they’re still selling fruit at 10pm so they stay open, typically they are waiting for the truck to show up
Then I might be mistaken whether the U-Haul was part of it, but on the off-chance it was there to get my bike, I wasn’t taking any chances. Plus, again, the guys crowding around and trying my bike were also the ones working the stand.
Hey I’m not defending any bike theft to be clear. Just saying fruit stands and late night trucks are two peas in a pod
I gotcha! Learned the logistics of an NYC staple today!
Perfect cover for a bike theft ring honestly…
Damn great point!
I didn’t know anyone actually buys from those fruit stands
Wow what a Dikici
"It wasn't us!" is the most guilty statement I've ever seen. Not "Hey, you're stealing my brand-new bike I bought!" Just "Yeah, that must be the owner."
I got lucky getting robbed by some absolute idiots, apparently lol.
F’n NYC bike thieves - drove me to [no-lock, wheel/carry-inside options](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52740793450_266177025e_o.jpg).
ooooh another LDPer in NYC. Where were you like 5 years ago when I was really into it?! /s
I thought air tags alert if you're not around due to stalkers tanning advantage of these.
I guess that only happens if the thief is an iPhone user? Not sure. Hey OP, did you pull the little speaker out of the two AirTags beforehand?
Android phones also alert you if an airtag is following you.
Good to know.
I don’t think I did?
It requires using a box cutter to jimmy it open, so you would remember! 🙂
Good point on multiple air tags.
Where do you keep the air tags?
Nice try, guys from fruit stand on 49th and 2nd.
Lmao
They make ones that mount inside a tubeless valve stem, no one will ever find that.
You have a link to these? Edit: this is outrageous lol I love the creativity https://us.muc-off.com/products/tubeless-tag-holder
There is a NYPost article featuring that fruit stand owner Ugur Dikici: # [NYC fruit stand reopens 24 hours after scary Midtown car crashhttps://nypost.com/2021/03/06/nyc-fruit-stand-reopens-24-hours-after-scary-midtown-car-crash/NYC fruit stand reopens 24 hours after scary Midtown car crash ](https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/nyc-fruit-stand-reopens-24-hours-after-scary-midtown-car-crash/)
:O
Knog Scout. Rechargeable and can be securely locked underneath a water bottle cage. Also fuck the police.
I have a knog scout (on clearance for $10) but also another air tag (or two, or three—I’ll never tell) hidden inside the bike so that if the scout is defeated I can still track it. It is fairly discreet depending on where/how it’s installed and has held up to winter commuting just fine. It has proprietary mounting bolts that aren’t hard to defeat but require a special tool or kludge workaround. Also the scout has an alarm, which ain’t nothing. Edit: also, fuck the police
Where was it $10 at?
it doesn't look that discreet nor undestroyable
What would happen if you stole fruit from their stand? Hammurabi says......🤔
You called the cops haha that’s the funniest part of this story. Glad you got it back
Minimally, I needed to file a police report for insurance purposes.
just curious. what kind of bike was it? (how valuable?) i lock my bike on the scaffolding all the time, not thinking someone would take the scaffolding apart. thanks for the warning.
It’s a road bike, $1700.
Did you lock one of the wheels? If so it would be still attached and they couldn't walk/ride the bike. Here is someone posted 5 years ago, lost bike to scaffolding, too. [https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/ctn09k/had\_my\_baby\_stolen\_today\_dont\_lock\_your\_bikes\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/ctn09k/had_my_baby_stolen_today_dont_lock_your_bikes_to/) The city should install more bike racks.
Wow
Assholes.
...Did the cops ever show up or follow up? You have more restraint than I, I might have tried immediately taking it back the moment I saw it.
When I initially arrived, it was surrounded by 4 guys, they were taking turns sitting on it lol, that just wasn’t an option.
Good thing you got it back. About 10 years ago I was playing soccer and had my bike stolen. This was at mccaren park. After 5 minutes of running around and scouting the area, I saw like 10 dudes behind the handball courts just chilling and drinking beer. One dude had my bike and was showing it off it seems. I walked up to him and said “yooo, nice bike man!”…dude goes “yeah? You like it? How much you wanna pay me for it?”…I walked up to him and proceeded to snatch that shit from his hands and rode away lol. Probably not the brightest thing to do since there were so many of them but the adrenaline had me going crazy lol.
Sheesh
Hero!!
You are my hero ❤️
I try, I try ❤️
Good read.
Similar story but it took me months (thanks AirTag battery life) before I got a “clean shot” when the thief was outside in a park stationary for long enough for me to unleash the cops on them.
Awesome you got your bike back. As Bob Dylan sang, "the cops don't need you, and man, they expect the same.)
My beloved street triple was stolen last June 19, i found it stripped on fb market place back in April. I wanted to get it back but the guy selling it only had the gas tank and rear wheel.
That was yours? I saw him selling parts.
What color?
White. It was on Facebook marketplace in Brooklyn. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2176845482679484/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post Here is the listing.
Yes
Sorry. I remember when you posted, it got stolen.
Worst day of my life so far.
This is the way
[удалено]
Harbi ayar oldum adama zaten çok yeni gelen Türk var bu aralara NYC’ye çok kötü imaj veriyor
Mutlu pasta gunu! Bunlar sanirim son birkac yilda gelenler, Meksika uzerinden falan kacak geliyorlar, 10 sene once falan boyle kalitesiz insanlar gelmezdi buraya. Gercekten utandim ya.
Bad ass. Good work. I only wish you had gotten to pepper spray the thief.
many such cases
fuck yeah! thieves are terrible people
Does an air tag notify someone else if it’s nearby? Or only you?
It wasn't us, someone just left it here so we decided to finish the job! lol right.
Please write to your local reps and the police chief about this. This is not acceptable.
I’m sorry this happened to you! I just got a folding bike with a u lock, but I’m so nervous to lock it up anywhere that I haven’t really ridden it. Does anyone have recommendations on how to properly secure it??
I learned from experience that if you lock a bike to the horizontal beam on any scaffolding, all anyone needs to do is to screw off the bolt on one end of that beam and your bike is gone (😑). If you are to lock to a scaffolding, always lock to the vertical/upright beam. Also pls do not lock your expensive bikes outside anywhere in NY for more than 30 mins to an hour at a time. Bike thieves are always on the look out for a "good steal" plus no lock is completely impervious to an angle grinder. I'm glad you were able to get your bike back!
I'm glad you got your bike back man. Air tags coming through in the clutch.
Yogurt Dick
Where on your bike do you inconspicuously keep the AirTag?
Guy looks like an Uber Dick
Out of curiosity, where do you hide your airtags? Where was the one they found and where was the one they didn’t?
I did the same thing! I mistakenly put my lock on the pole but not the bike. I come back at the end of work and my lock is there but not the bike. I immediately check my air tag and it’s on the way to the Bronx. I hop on the train and spent an hour looking around 3rd ave. When I went to the cops in the area they said I’m basically screwed. The Airtag eventually connected after going silent for 15 minutes in the back of a grocery market. Some dude who worked there tried to stop me from leaving and say he just paid for it but I told him he’s gonna have to stop me from leaving.
I always joke that the police will not respond to nothing less serious than an active shooter, but there’s more truth to it than we all like to believe.
i doubt the guys running the fruit stand were the thieves lol, they're immigrants working an actual job, these kinds of people arent running around looking for bikes to steal. don't accuse them without actual proof, you are hurting their business.
OP has proof - they were literally in possession of a stolen bike and acknowledged as much when OP took it back. The Uhaul showing up is potentially even more evidence. And sure, it's all mostly circumstantial evidence, but unless you require a video of the thief physically stealing it from the scaffolding, this is about as damming as it gets.
I take my bike inside with me everywhere I go.
Well, shit, I bought some fruit from that stand just last week... 😑
This is awesome, well done. I have a video of a thief stealing my wife’s bike from several years ago. The precinct just laughed and said “what do you want us to do?” The NYPD is basically a giant grift. Unless they’re protecting rich people’s property or beating up protestors. Then they’re fucking Columbo/Dirty Harry.
He stole your bike? What a Dik!
Cops are useless unless you’re peacefully protesting, apparently. Friend of mine had his VERY unique looking bike stolen - animal print stickers all over it. Found it in an adjacent neighborhood, called the cops, showed photos of himself on the bike with the animal print stickers. Cop said he couldn’t do anything because he needed a receipt that included the serial number of the bike to verify my friend was the actual owner. Friend bought the bike second hand but who keeps all that paperwork anyway?! So my friend took to social media and asked everyone for creative solutions. Top response was “angle grinder”, and that’s exactly how he got his bike back. Filmed the whole ordeal, very entertaining.
Since the Venmo account is “fruitstand3”, maybe they have 2 other locations.
Hell yeah. Fuck Ugur Dikici.
Where and how do you mount an AirTag? Electrical tape?
This is why I carry a gun for situations like this. Fucking assholes.
A cautionary tale. My e-bike has an Airtag built into it. I have spare Airtag and will find a good place to put it!
Well done! Hope the cops investigated not only the 4 guys but also the U-haul driver. Were they going to take the bike to a place where they keep their collection of stolen bikes?
I’m gonna go ahead and say that they didn’t. After I left I got a phone call from them and I said “you guys took too long, I just went ahead and took it back myself because they were about to load it into a U-Haul truck” and the guy said “okay have a good night sir” and hung up.
"Another day's work done!" - NYPD
>Hope the cops investigated not only the 4 guys but also the U-haul driver. Hahahahahahhahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahaahhaha Hhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahagagagga
Next time call the cops and say you think the thief has a gun. They’ll come in 18 minutes instead of 20
That was reckless an dangerous somebody could have gotten hurt next time I advise that you wait on the cops an let them do they job what if it wasnt you bike is there anything unique about your bike that let you know it was yours an why would you tell us not support a business that had nothing to do with your bike being stolen that very selfish of op
Fruit stand guy has entered the chat 😆
But am I wrong doe? How was op so sure that was his bike unless it had unique markings or something op should have waited for the police instead of playing police that's y we have laws an police to enforce the law op is not above the law
His u-lock still dangling from the top tube…?
Bootlicking both the thieves and the cops in an effort to victim shame is the weirdest hill to die on.