Here's the story according to Prolly's Blog: A bike messenger locks his bike to meet his friends at a cafe. Same messenger comes out later to use phone and watches as a guy looking over his bike pulls out a cordless drill to drill out the u-lock of the watching messengers bike.
Below is the video how the messenger and friends reacted to the bike thief.
Please note that despite the fact that this guy was caught red handed attempting to steal a bike. The guys who caught him used a fair amount of restraint on their part. The bike thief was not bleeding or visibly injured. Just scarred to death and most likely, currently pursing the classifieds seeking a new line of work.
9 comments:
WOW -crazy video!
I always wondered what a bike thief looks like.
I wonder why he had a bike helmet, perhaps to look more legit?
sorry I have NO sympathy or tolerance
for thieves, thievery, having been
a victim numerous times, lost tools,
things that were vital.
The first offense, the left hand...
hahahaha... very nicely done! He could (and should) have gotten much worse. Dude's a scumbag... DOWN WITH BIKE THIEVES!
This is just one crime being followed up with another crime. This guy wasn't beating someone's child, he hadn't just committed a hit and run against a family member, he was going to steal a bike. He is then assaulted by several people. Had this been a video of the cops doing the beating you'd be outraged at the police brutality being as the thief wasn't being violent.
I have to agree with Matt. While I loathe thieves, the proper course of action should have been to call the police and attempt to detain the man in some civilized manner. This is an example of what our society would look like with no laws. Vigilante justice while appropriate in a VERY few circumstances, this was not one of them. Is the man a scumbag? Absolutely. Does he deserve to go to jail for his crime? Absolutely. Did he deserve to be the target of assault and battery? Not so much. Matt is right, if this had been a tape of police "roughing him up" it would be on the 6 o'clock news not on some guys local blog, and we'd all be screaming for the officer's badge.
If pushing and kicking at the thief is immoral, are we supposed to stand there and say, "Please don't steal by bike, bro" while he goes at the lock with a drill?
The thief did have a drill, which he could have used as a weapon against his 'assailants'. Since his line of work is known, one can assume that he may have had more weapons, like a knife or a gun.
The cops wouldn't need to beat the thief as they hold the authority to cuff him and take him to jail. Further, cops sit on the cushion of weapons, from mace to a hand gun, which they can use at a seconds notice. You and I as law abiding citizen do not have those authorities. We can only hope the police comes in time and then try to point out the thief at a line-up. The bicycle will probably never be recovered.
I am not of the opinion that beating the thief was moral. The Gandhian principles I grew up with recommend that it was not the correct path of action.
The bicycle to the messengers is their prime mode of earning. It is like stealing your car (uninsured car, as bicycles don't have insurance) and your computer away rendering you stranded from work and no tool to work with. Assuming that your car was the only mode of transportation anywhere, what would you do if someone was stealing your uninsured car in front of you?
Why be held for hostage by YouTube??
There are other vid hosting sites out there, dailymotion.com, veoh.com,
sidereel.com and livevideo.com.
I wonder if that guy's sister was as made as he when she caught him stealing her pants.
Which is worse: trying to steal a bike, beating down a non-resisting target or video taping it for enjoyment.....?
I think it would have been waaay more fascinating if they had "detained" him and asked him lots of shameful questions and make him say lots of humiliating things to the camera. Forget the physical beating; they should've detained him, called the cops, then gotten himself to verbally humiliate himself on camera WITH his name. And then posted it online and let it go viral. Ah, revenge!
Post a Comment