Hunting Down a Bike Thief

About This Video

The VanMoof electric bike: the one Van and our son X ride together. Got stolen while they were playing Skee-Ball at the Santa Monica Pier. It has a GPS transponder. Van's name is engraved on the frame. He grabbed X's t-ball bat and went to meet his brother Dean in Venice.

The video is about property, principle, and the moral weight of enforcement. Van found the bike with a man who'd paid $100 for it. He offered the man an exit. Just give the bike back, no police. The man came at them with pliers, started clipping spokes. Dean had a GoPro running. Van called the cops. The man fled on a skateboard. Van pressed charges: not out of vengeance, but principle, because he gave the man a chance and the man fought for it. The last line is where the complexity lives: Van was happy to get his bike back and bummed to put a guy in jail for receiving stolen property the day before the 4th of July. He doesn't resolve the tension. He lets you stay in it.

Transcript

foreign bike Van's bike got stolen last night or something and he thinks he sees it so we'll see I don't know he like maybe hold his backpack and [ __ ] like that are you [ __ ] kidding me he's got it damn it's whose bike is that Vamps how do you know

it's his check out the license plate [Music] yep that's that's Van's bike [Music] someone stole my bike we're trying to find it but the tracking thing that's built into it is almost useless [Music] carry that okay [Music] now just searching on foot the app is supposed to track them but called Dean and he said it's two hours before they send the Ping from the bike so that we can find the location [Music] I made you cry how come

man I love that bike best bike I ever had and the thing about it is that it wasn't just my bike it was x's and my bike [Music] this is uh the first footage of us ever riding it together foreign [Music] stole it while we were playing Skee-Ball at the Santa Monica Pier [Applause]

got a ping from the bike 11th in Arizona in Santa Monica I'm meeting Dean there right now I'm going to take I'm going to take X's t-ball bat with me and I'm gonna go meet him right now good enough so I made one mistake I don't know why I made this mistake I think it's because I'm so routine oriented I made one mistake and that was I didn't check the Ping from the bike until eight this morning when I should have checked it at four or five o'clock in the morning and then had to jump on whoever this thief is [Music] what this thief might not understand though I've painted it on the down tube is that this particular bike contains a tracking transponder [Music]

this bike is virtually worthless if stolen and contains a GPS tracking device its electronic components require my phone to function its value warrants a grand larceny charge [Music] I'm gonna return to the scene of the crime [Music] all right so Dean dressed up for this and he has a theory about a parking garage full of questionable bikes General van move notes are General bike Thief notes General fan move Spike details okay so I talked to the bike recovery guys when my bike got stolen and they said without exceptions when they went to retrieve a bike as soon as they found it the guy just gave it up oh okay there's no fight there's no argument he just he

knew it right away he gave it that's been my experience yeah so you know violence is always absolutely the cops would come and help the cops are really surprisingly helpful they like called me back and got me the report number and everything so I could send it to Van move all right so this is the parking garage oh that one oh so you think this this place looks kind of look but here oh I was thinking less legit than this well oh okay

I don't want to disparage any legitimate bit oh okay were the lights on last time you came here so I should turn my app on yeah okay that's not it while this is happening and so while we look the hotel Union is on strike the housekeepers Union is on strike just out of a out of a humiliating irony we're just looking here which is where Peewee Herman's bike got stolen in peewee's Big Adventure looked a lot different than those hurry I'm afraid we can't consider your

bike being stolen a police emergency if it doesn't turn up then come down to the station and fill out a report that's the best we can do come on look at it [Music] right what are you looking at what's up man what are you looking at it's a nice setup you got there oh I sleep up top all right you sleep up top yes I do [Music] now when I handed the GoPro over to Dean the screen saver must have come on which makes it look like the GoPro is powered off so I think Dean powered the GoPro off thinking it was powering it on and what he missed was me telling this man that I had reported the

bike stolen I had filed a police report with the Santa Monica Police Department that this bike was stolen and that if he just let me take the bike that would be the end of it and then this happened take it take it

for it so what all right we're out just get a receipt next time enough we're done we're done this what's the name etched into that frame right there okay see that name right there then nice that and nice staff is that a good enough all right you have something else you got a receipt it's running now if you have a phone you got a receipt with a bike you have a photo that's not enough dude the cops was not enough picture I've recorded it you got a picture this is an electronically enabled hi bro I understand this is all that how about this how

about how do you turn that light on right here that ain't the only bike they made no it's fine listen listen listen all right listen if it's the gentleman's bike he's having his bike let him have happened I paid 100 bucks for it yeah I need police assistance immediately on Rose Ave in the boardwalk yeah in the boardwalk into Venice I just had a man stole my bike and he's threatening me with uh we just want to make sure that it's you know the person's bike it's I'm just looking I'm just looking at Rose Ave and I'm on the boardwalk in Venice officer's name his name's Stephen Perez come yeah I just bought it green shirt we're standing right here that's cool I've seen tons lots of different I can't hear you so I'm telling you hi hey how

are you uh he has a large pair of pliers all right he has watch for this [ __ ] how long has this been stolen 24 hours yeah okay I don't know if he took it but he currently has it gazebo right here I'm going to get my money man yeah go get your money back from that man huh he'll get your money from that guy because I I paid 100 bucks go get your money I'm going if he's got it man right now turn turn the bikes around it we're not against you guys we're against the people who are thinking these things so let's do it with that guy you feel me yeah so so we're just gonna we're gonna leave right now with the bikes and that's the end of it yeah yeah that's it if it's your property man you're allowed to take your property yeah we're gonna leave right now with the bikes [Applause]

thank you I'm not the situation may have resolved he's walking away from us um we're gonna leave to Defuse The Situation he's in a silver Silverado right away right away no no hey bro do you want to go through that again let them come okay no my brother and I have been riding around looking for a stolen bike we just found it we showed the guy that it was our bike his name is engraved in the side the guy got very violent physical pushed us dropped with the bike came at us with some pliers that's his truck right there and then as soon as uh he heard your siren he took off on a skateboard going south you need a bike scooter no my brother left with the bike oh you bite your brother got the bike back yeah there was some enough separation that we had the opportunity to leave with it so he left with it I told him to leave okay on the beach

it has my brother's name engraved on the side of it then the other one and he was like this is my bike here's my ID that's my bike the guy flipped out he came at us with the pliers he started clipping spokes shocked in the bike pushing back getting very physical and then as soon as I called you guys he took off okay the bike's gone down well no my bro when he took off he took off on his skateboard I told my brother to take the bike away to use that element of it so my brother went back to his truck with the bike I don't know what footage Dean was able to get with the GoPro but I couldn't shoot riding two bikes back from Venice that away uh the cops the cops would like you to come back uh with the bike if possible so they can close out the report and they want to know if you want to arrest have the guy arrested for receiving stolen property I definitely do okay then come on back I don't disagree yeah you got to come back on the bike though

ride it back all right so now I gotta go deal with the police oh there he is hello yeah okay so it turns out the guy in the green admitted to the cops that he knew my bike was stolen when he paid 100 bucks for it and we never caught the the actual Thief and I pressed charges not out of Vengeance but out of principle because I gave that man a chance to give my bike back peacefully and he fought for it he came at us with the pliers I said look I'm not gonna call the police you have it right now yeah and then he just started on the bucks for it give me 100 bucks so I took it and then his last line of defense was to cut spokes and hopefully those guys down in Venice get a little bit more paranoid about stealing bikes

and understand that a lot of them have tracking devices in them and so forth dreamed of this since I lived in New York City finally since 1998 you never get to the party and I'm bummed because I don't have the kids see I know but I'll make a new one for my daughter and while I was happy to get my bike back you know I was bummed to put a guy in jail for having a stolen bike the day before the 4th of July [Music] on this week's patreon only video sewing is the second least sophisticated level

of repair and the first technically significant level of repair and I think sewing is a good entry point for working with your hands foreign

Products & Tools Mentioned

• VanMoof uses — electric bicycle with GPS tracking, stolen and recovered

Films & Media Referenced

• referenced in context of bike recovery

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