Bike Thief

So I just caught a bike thief. Here’s what happened. I roll up to the bike racks between E15 and MIT medical. No spots under the overhang, so I park near the repair station.

Then I see a green bag with a pair of bolt cutters peeking out of it leaning up against the wall near the repair stand. I take my time locking up my bike, check my email, and make a phone call.

Meanwhile, this guy is standing next to the small tree near the bike racks. He’s 5’8″, black jeans, red sweatshirt, African American, keeps staring at me. He completely incredulous. He cannot believe I’m standing right next to (presumably) his bolt cutters. He makes a move to walk over a few times and always hesitates and keeps standing by the tree. He is really staring me down.

I call the cops. A cop shows up and he takes off towards the T. The cop shuffles after him. After a wait, the cop returns and tells me that he’s been arrested a few times recently for bike theft. He had no reason to hold him, so let him go at the T.

They got the bag with the cutters and said they were gonna check for prints – since he was just arrested, they have his prints on file.

Ok, lessons learned. All the bikes on the rack were locked with “U” locks except for this one

which he was also standing the closest to. Presumably, he cannot cut through any of the locks except for this one. If you own this bike, you should probably get a better lock. As of today (Sunday, this happened on Friday) the bike in question is gone :/