Dear PoPville – My Bike was Stolen when I was Unconscious after an Accident

by Prince Of Petworth September 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm 35 Comments

Dear PoPville,

I know it’s a long shot, but here goes. Late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning around 1:30 AM I was riding east on Monroe toward 14th Street when I wiped out on a speed hump and hit my head.
Even though I was wearing a helmet, I hit hard enough to black out (no, I wasn’t drinking). Some time between the accident and when I came to, my bike was taken from me. Fortunately my wallet and iPhone were still in my pockets, but some awful piece of trash stole my bike from me while I was unconscious. My bike had green taped handlebars and a blue Panaracer tire in front. If anyone saw anything or thinks they’ve seen the bike, please reply here.

Anonymous

what kind of bike was it. BTW I almost have this happen to me when I crashed. cops had to stop some POS from taking my bike while I was bleeding on the ground.
amethystdeceiver

holy shit, that’s awful! hope you get it back!
Anonymous

That pretty low—stealing a bike from someone unconscious.
Petworthian

Sounds like you had a concussion. Did you go to the hospital? if not, definitely get checked out.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes. You MUST see a doctor and get tested. You could have bleeding in the brain, which can be fatal. Go now.
C3PO

Damn, I’m sorry that happened. I can only hope that karma comes back on him/her tenfold.
anonymouse

Wow! That is incredibly crappy! I hope you are okay and that you find your bike.

Do you think the POS that stole your bike in any way led to your accident?
nettie

That is severely f’ed up. Do you have a photo of your bike?
Jason

WTF is wrong with people in this city?!? I’m starting to be afraid to walk my bike from my apartment to my car for fear of having someone jump me for it.
- Paola
  
  not if your paying cash.if your fincianng you will need insurance and a license. you can sometimes get away with a permit though!!money talks..cash = need nothing
Anonymous

Why are bikes such a hot commodity for thieves? Are they really worth that much to other buyers?
- Anonymous
  
  no, but they are useful for transportation. stealing bikes is sort of like bikeshare for assholes.
  - Anonymous
    
    great phrasing! “stealing bikes is sort of like bikeshare for assholes”. perfect.
- Anonymous
  
  Here you go:
  
  http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/30393216796/what-happens-to-stolen-bicycles?64e1f728
Anonymous

Awful story….just awful. There are some genuinely evil people in this city.
jpk

Glad to hear you’re OK – will kleep an eye out for the bike. I will say that you should take a walk by the Columbia Heights metro west entrance and the smaller bike rack just a bit further down 14th Street as recently stolen bikes have been spotted around there a few times.

Still – glad you’re alright
Anonymous

man, i’m sorry. i wouldn’t have stolen your bike, i would have helped you out if you crashed on my street. i’m sorry that happened to you. thats pretty scary.
And then

Apparently DC is not gentrifying fast enough…

I won’t be sad when people like this are no longer in the city. But watch out for those crazy people demanding bike lanes and good schools!
- Anonymous
  
  -1.
  - Patrick Thornton
    
    To be clear, people of different income, education and ethnic backgrounds good, but people who steal from unconscious people bad.
    
    When you bring in more jobs, you’ll have less of this vagrancy. But to my original point, maybe people should complain less about bike lanes and more about crime (and there is a lot of crime against people on bikes).
    - Denizen of Tenallytown
      
      More jobs for whom? The gentrifiers? I’m not sure how many more high dollar government contractor, lawyer or paralegal, and lobbyist jobs we can pile on the taxpayers, especially with the upcoming mandatory federal government spending cuts.
      
      Or are you referring to the jobs for the types of people who are stealing the bikes?
    - Anonymous
      
      look it really sucks that there are victims of crime. it doubly sucks that OP could have died from his injury, or been hit by a car, and someone basically left him for dead ( assuming he saw OP). pretty damn cold and callous. or at least seems to be, we weren’t there.
      
      but to bring in gentrification into this argument is ridiculous. and to suggest it isn’t happening “fast enough” is crazytalk. it’s happening at breakneck speed.
      - Anon Ward 6 Rez
        
        Still not fast enough.
- Anonymous
  
  +1
brienneoftarth

So sorry this happened to you, OP. Please get yourself checked out.
BT

Yes, please get yourself checked out. My colleague crashed his bike and hit his head. He felt fine, but at the urging of another colleague he went to the doctor and that ended up saving his life.
bissinger

Glad you’re ok. I’ll second (or third) others – go to the doctor!
Anonymous

You should really file a police report- ASAP. (Maybe you did, but since you didn’t mention it, I’m presuming that you didn’t) You should have called the police right after it happened. Since it’s been a while, they may not be attentive at all to your issue now, but they would have helped out right after. (A few months ago my car was broken into and window smashed- i know, completely different- but i called the police right when i found it and even though i actually didnt have anything stolen, since there was nothing to steal in my car, they still filed a police report and offered to do a crime scene investigation to look for fingerprints and what not.. Saying this just to show that sometimes police actually can be helpful.) You might as well contact the police now if you haven’t.
- Adam
  
  Wish they had been that attentive when my car was broken into twice. They couldn’t have cared less.
Anonymous

I’m reminded of the parable of the good Samaritan. Only the exact opposite.
- Anonymous
  
  only like the proverbial typical samaritan.
  - petwurf
    
    +1
oh2dc

As others have said, this is awful. Really terrible. I just read about a new bike helmet sensor that may be of interest to the OP or other riders. It initiates an alarm on your smartphone, giving you thirty seconds to get up and cancel the alarm before a distress call goes out to pre-chosen emergency contacts and first responders. It also gives out your precise GPS coordinates. It’s called ICEdot Crash Sensor.
S

So tired of worthless people like this
downinch

Original Poster here. I don’t have a picture of the bike, but here’s a stock photo. It was a gray Jamis Beatnik with a blue front tire and green handlebar tape. Thanks everyone for the support and words of encouragement.

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/road/fixies/images/09_beatnik.jpg

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