calamarichris

Dear Huntington Bay Board of Directors (and many cyclists blind copied with
this message).

Our UPS driver alerted me that another UPS driver was attacked, beaten, and
robbed (bike, cell phone, & wallet) about 7:15 PM, January 30, 2012. He was
riding alone on the Santa Ana River Trail in Santa Ana. He was attacked by
three men.

I guess the moral is do not ride alone on the Santa Ana River Trail,
particularly at night.

-Paul H.

Elvo

UPS has bike drivers now?

CbadRider

I hope he's okay.

socalrider

when I ride at night I usually carry pepper spray just in case.. Not sure if I would be on the trail at night, too many places to hide..

notabikedork

I am the UPS man attacked Monday night. I was riding home to HB and at 715 between 1st st and McFadden while traveling at 20mph a gangbanger a-hole jumped from the bushes and sent me sprawling. Before i could recover two of the punks were on my back while the other pulled my bike free. My head was pushed into the dirt and I was told not to look up. I am a big guy (6'4" 225) and thought of fighting back but I had no Idea what weapons were right above me. If you think you have time to pull a gun or pepper spray or stun gun you are wrong. I have two young children and decided getting shot or stabbed over a bike wasn't worth it. Been commuting from HB to Anaheim for 4 years but will not ride the SART at night alone anymore. Would LOVE to meet the punks while standing.....

knowledgdropper

Welcome to the forums- glad that it wasn't any worse for you.

Can you describe your bike, or better yet, post a picture of it? A bike for a guy your size would certainly be distinctive if it were to turn up on craigslist, etc.

I really hope they catch those punks.

calamarichris

I'm very sorry about your loss Notabikedork, but I'm delighted you're still around to be father to your fortunate children.

Do you have any photos or desciptions of your bike? I would love to find it on Craigslist and help you put these unkind fellows in the hoosgow until your kids are deep into adulthood.

notabikedork

specialized allez elite, charcoal gray red and white highlights 61cm with century bars, grey camoflage tape

mjsocal

Thanks for posting and I'm sorry you had to go through that. Smart decision you made and I'm glad you're alive, and I'm sure your family is so happy to have you with them.

Surfer34

I am going to take a wild guess and say.......hispanics ?

Jed19

Sorry about your horrible experience. You made the smart decision not to fight. And your kids are better for that sound judgement.

People, you are better riding the roads when it's dark. The SART is just not safe at night, unless you are part of a sizable group of riders.

Flying Merkel

Scary experience. We're glad you're alive and relatively unhurt. I stopped riding SART through Santa Ana at night. Consider Newhope as an alternate. It'll get you to Garden Grove Blvd. Do you work at the Winston St. facility?

CbadRider

I posted your bike in the Stolen Bikes and Police Notices thread.

surfrider

That sucks. For reference that's the same area where there was a mugging/theft last October, and at about the same time (6:30PM and 7:15PM - see toobspunk's post from 10/30/2011 titled "Robbery on SART"). Its roughly between the propane tank yard/Spurgeon School at the north end and Centennial Park (the soccer fields next to SART) at the south end, and on the east side of the SA River. The surrounding neighborhoods are definately gang turf. Its safe to ride it during the day (in fact I went through there about 9AM this morning, out-and-back ride from the beach), and even more so on the weekends (lots of people around), but I wouldn't go through that section at night.

Jan Feetz

Sorry that happened to you. As surfrider mentioned it has happened in the past.
Here is the link:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ghlight=stolen

The area there is definitely gang area and its "marked". The gang controlling that are the Santa Ana Lopers. They are the law there and are tied to "La eMe", the Mexican Mafia. Make no mistake. They will take whatever they want. The neighborhoods surrounding that area are bad during the day and extremely dangerous at night. The only time police are in that area is when something bad happens, like a shooting or a murder.

Surfer34

Californians should be so proud of themselves. I remember back in the day when Santa Ana was a nice middle class neighboorhood. No wonder why all the good people moved out and the new residents, well, they speak a different language.

Oh well, California law forces you to be sitting duck so basically nothing you can do about it. Ride faster I guess

GP

Good call.

weshigh

We got it after your first post. You don't like Hispanics/minorities. Moving on.

Mr. Beanz

Bilingual muggers!

Jan Feetz

No, the muggers were criminals.

Surfer34

is that the description you gave to the police ? no wonder why they havent been caught yet.

Garfield Cat

If I were a gang member, I would have a spotter with a cell phone to look ahead and see if there's a lone rider with a nice bike. Then on the next overpass, I would have alerted my gang members to stage a hit.

toobspunk

Sorry to hear this happened to you. The same thing happened to me back in October. Same exact stretch and everything. Mine was a few more guys, but they just kicked my ass and took off with it all, didn't say anything.

SAPD says it has happened a few more times farther north and most of the time it sounded gang related.

toobspunk

Have the Detective handling the case contact SGT RON GRACE. He is handling my case, and I'm sure there is info they could share.

It's really frustrating that this is still happening. In the struggle during my robbery I was able to grab one of the guys shirts and he slipped out of it when they took off. The shirt was immediately given to SAPD that night. They said they would test it for DNA, but it would take about 6 months to get back results(That would be in late april early may). Kind of absurd that this keeps happening in the same spot, same situation etc and they don't move the DNA checking up in the que or at least patrol the area heavily so the criminals stay away.

Please do any investigating you can and feel safe doing. I talked to a homeless person who sleeps there who saw it when it happened to me and was sure he knew who it was(Some gangbangers that live in a house that backs up to where it happened). Talk to the homeless people, I guarantee they saw something!

John R

It would be nice if you could outfit your bike with a Lojack or some kind of GPS tracking device. It would be worth the money to catch these bastards.