Stolen Bike Recovered Just in Time for Shabbos

On Friday, about an hour before Shabbos, Shomrim received a call from the mother of a teary-eyed 8-a year-old girl, whose new bicycle had just been stolen.

A couple of volunteers arrived at the scene of the theft – on Maple St. between Troy and Schenectady Aves. – and canvassed the area looking for suspects.

A kindly African-American neighbor directed the Shomrim volunteers to E. 49th St., where he said the thieves had gone with the bike. Sure enough, two young teenage boys, both around age 12, were spotted walking on that street with a pink bicycle.

As soon as the two boys saw the volunteers, they dropped the bicycle and fled.

Due to the character of the neighborhood they were in, and the age of the suspects, Shomrim elected not to pursue the boys, fearing any incident during their capture could spark a more serious confrontation.

Instead they retrieved the bike and returned it to an emotional and grateful young girl.

Police, who arrived at the scene to file a criminal report, commended the Shomrim volunteers for their quick action and professionalism in retrieving the stolen property and avoiding any further incident with regard to the suspects.

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10 Comments

  • Cholent Mit Kugel

    Awww a touching story. I bet these boys can find the robbers that hit that awful Albany Bakery, and return their dough…

  • Great job!

    The kids will think twice before doing it again and the girl got her bike back. Good thinking not to pursue the kids under the circumstances.

  • OMG!

    They’ve got us cowering!

    B”H that the girl got her bike back, but the NYPD’s repeated failure to prosecute is doing NO ONE a favor!

    At minimum, the thieving kids should have been detained, and their parents summoned. We don’t even know whether or not these thieves were repeat offenders! IF so, charges should have absolutely been filed, and the juvenile courts would then deal with them. And the fact that these kids merely had to let go of the bike just teaches them that they got away with stealing, and just have to run faster, and in a different direction next time!!!! These kids were made to answer to NO ONE!!!!

    We have become a society of pushovers! Just recently, the NYPD stopped arresting marijuana users, only “ticketing” them! Why? Because the NYPD felt that arresting them was causing problems in the relationship between the NYPD and the African-American community! What’s next: no more arrests for assault, because “arresting assailants will cause problems in the relationship between the police and the African-American community”? Or no more arrests for carjacking, for the same reason?

    We are traveling down a very, very slippery slope, in which the thugs are winning, R”L. This country is just about lost, I am sorry to say.

    • Yup: keeps the crime statistics down too

      When there are no arrests, then it looks like the 71st has had less crime.

      And those who run the precinct get their bonuses for having supposedly lower crime rates, and that makes DeBlasio look better, too.

  • Greatful Mother

    Thank you to all the Shomrim members who showed up within seconds, and spent time on erev Shabbos to search for the bike.

    My daughter is so happy to have her bike back.