Dear Editor:
I am a parent of a 14-year-old boy in Gilroy who has experienced
two bicycle thefts in the past six months.
Dear Editor:
I am a parent of a 14-year-old boy in Gilroy who has experienced two bicycle thefts in the past six months. The latest one has outraged me so much that I thought I would write you hoping that you will publish my letter so the problem gets some visibility in the community and my son might possibly gets his bike back.
Starting with the first incident about four months ago, my son had gone into MacDonald’s on First and Wren with his friends. He claims he wasn’t in there for more than 10 minutes after which he returned outside to find that his bicycle had been stolen. That was the first call to the police by him and his first to me in a tearful voice that his bicycle was just stolen.
A week or two later he was riding on his scooter when he noticed a kid on Mantelli and Hirisaki riding the bike that was stolen from him, not more than a mile from our house. He followed the boy and called me on his cell phone while in pursuit of him. I jumped in my car and met him on Mantelli where the boy had stopped.
We walked up to him, asked him where he got the bike, which was now destroyed with blue paint and his name (“Quinterra”) written in big red letters on the side of the bike. He claimed to have purchased it from a “black kid” at the park on the corner for $10. I of course asked him whether he knew it had to have been stolen, since it was originally a $350 bicycle, to which he replied that he didn’t think it was.
Well, I was just so happy to get my son’s bike back that I didn’t care where he got it or how. When we called the police to let them know we found the bike and told them about his story regarding the purchase of the bike at the park on the corner, they did not believe that this kid bought it from some kid at the park. They took down his location and said they were going to go talk to him. I’m not sure if they were able to locate him as I didn’t have his address, but we never heard anything further from the police. At any rate, we spent the next three months and well over another $150 trying to repaint and fix up the bike that this kid had defaced to no avail, as the bike was just never the same. One down …
Well, last week we finally broke down and agreed to cover the balance of the cost of a new bicycle after my son chipped in $160 of his own money … so, $385 later he was the proud owner of a brand new gunmetal gray Diamondback Orion bicycle. He was so excited and proud of this bike that he and his friends immediately started to give it their own custom touches and he rode it everywhere.
On Monday evening the phone rang at about 6:30. I answered it to hear my son half in tears (once again) asking me to pick him up. This time he and his friends had gone into a store by Longs Drugs on First Street to buy a candy bar. There were two kids in there leaving as they walked in who, as they left, jumped on his bike, left the one they were riding and took off. My son chased down one of the kids who proceeded to pull a pocket knife out, wave it in their faces and threaten to “kill them” if they didn’t back off. He had the bike one week!!
We of course once again lectured him about locking his bike, but nothing we could say or think is any excuse for these rotten, out-of-control kids that are running around Gilroy stealing bicycles. Something has to be done to stop this. I also have to wonder where this kids parents are and what they think about their son’s brand new $385 bike.
If anyone has a neighbor or knows of a son or daughters friend who had an “old” red bike on Monday and a brand new gun metal gray (matte finish) DiamondBack Orion bicycle on Tuesday, please call the Gilroy police and reference case number 03-6683. The Gilroy police department phone number is 846-0350. This time if we catch them I plan to make sure they get prosecuted and put through our legal system so they end up seeing what it’s like to have to account for their actions. Maybe we can prevent someone from progressing to armed robbery some day, which may result in the death of some innocent person. Also, maybe we can prevent some other kid from losing his bicycle for no reason!
Barry Lazow, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, Nov. 5
to ed****@************ch.com
