Police are on the look-out for a man suspected of stealing a guy’s bike on the Williamsburg Bridge Monday afternoon. According to Animal NY, Stephen Perry was riding home to Brooklyn at about 2:15 p.m. when a “man grabbed his handlebars and told him: ‘Get off the bike, I need the bike. I’ll cut your face.'”
Perry apparently got off the bike and began arguing with the man, when the suspect got on the bike and started riding back across the bridge into Manhattan. Two other bicyclists, Ian Bell and a “French photographer named Charles,” chased after the suspect, following him onto Suffolk Street.Â
Here’s what happened next, per Animal’s Bucky Turco:
With his adrenaline pumping, (Bell caught up to the suspect), grabbed the guy’s shirt and then proceeded to tackle him to the ground. Both bikes came to a grinding halt and the man simply started briskly walking away and didn’t say a word. At about this point, Charles arrived and while Bell decided to stay with the bike, the Frenchman crashed his bike into the thief. A true professional, the man was mostly unfazed and once again started scurrying away, but not before Charles was able to snap a very candid shot of the man. Eventually the thief ducked into the subway as the police just started arriving to the scene and that was the last anyone saw of him. Minutes later, Perry was reunited with his bike and was quite appreciative. “I’m so grateful for those guys. Ian had to do some pretty dangerous riding to shove the guy off my bicycle,” he said.
Police say the suspect is between 40 and 50 years old, 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. If you have information on this case, contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
Is that a picture of the thief or are we supposed to imagine a random black guy?
This is the photo that Charles snapped as the suspect was fleeing.