Friday, September 14, 2012

robbers now targeting Bloomingdale bikers

From ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:
   
Dear Neighbors,
 
The robbery threat in the neighborhood continues to evolve, so please remain vigilant. 
 
On the night of September 12th shortly before midnight, my room mate was robbed on the Unit Block of R St NW when she arrived home on her bike at the fronts steps of our house. Here`s her account of the incident so that others in the community may extract lessons learned.

``As I pulled up to the house on my bike, I felt my bike bumped slightly from behind. I looked up to see another bike passing me on the sidewalk -- looked back at the crate on the back of my bike and realized that a stranger had grabbed my purse and bike lock out of the crate as he went by.  I shouted.  He kept riding.  My first thought was to cancel my credit cards, but now I had no phone.  I went inside, had trouble with Skype, rode to a friend`s house who wasn`t home, went to Big Bear where the lovelies there let me use a phone.  Then as I crossed the street to go back home, a police car drove by and the Officer asked if I needed help. It turns out someone had called the police and they`d found my purse (minus phone and credit cards) in an alley off Randolph St NE, and MPD had been looking for me.  Funny, it never occurred to me to call the police.  So lessons learned = don`t carry your valuables in your crate, and call the police if someone takes them.``
                   
Crazy times; stay safe. It sounds like the robber was following her on his bike. MPD responded diligently.
  
Hugh

3 comments:

Vildgoria said...

I live on the north side of R st and heard you shouting and called the police before I ran outside, but I didn't see anyone or anything. i thought they hadn't sent a car, but i'm glad they did. Sorry you got robbed. I hope they catch the piece of shit.

Lora said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lora said...

Do you have any description of the person on the bike or what their bike looked like? A few nights ago I was followed home on R st (between 1st and N Cap) by a creep on a bike who kept asking for my name and riding very closely to me on the sidewalk. He then cut me off right as I was getting to my house. He had long dreads and was riding a bike with tons of stickers on it, it looked red but it was dark outside. He made me feel extremely uncomfortable, further exacerbated by the fact that he now knows where I live.