Bicycle stolen during robbery, beating on Pinellas Trail
Man who was beaten rode Pinellas Trail as commuter
Posted: 9:14 PM
Last Updated: 10 hours and 36 minutes ago
• By: Brad Davis
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A helmet is bloodied. It's the same bicycle helmet that Mike Hall was wearing Monday while riding on the Pinellas Trail. He was beaten and robbed during a routine trip home from work.
"I Just crossed over 31st Street, I had to wait for some cars to go through. And I'm coming up, just getting across the street and there's four guys, two on each side of the road, or on the trail and I'm riding through them. I really didn't realize, didn't think, that one was going to jump me," explained Hall.
Hall now has the physical and emotional scars of having been beaten by the four young men. To make matters worse, the strong-armed robbers stole his main form of transportation, a bike valued at more than $1,000.
"They could've just knocked me off the bike and just stole it and ran. But they wanted to sit there and beat me up," Hall wondered.
Hall acknowledges that It had just got dark when the beating happened. Luckily for him, a passerby noticed the commotion and caused the four suspects to flee.
"I'm still upset. I think I've slept all of two hours," Hall said.
Lorraine Smith uses the trail several times a week and has heard of other incidents on the trail, but, "You certainly don't think of it as being a place of where you have to watch your back all the time," said Smith.
Lorraine says the incident won't keep her from enjoying the Pinellas Trail. But Mike Hall, who already has a loaner bike to use, will now take a new way home.
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