https://youtube.com/watch?v=5TNTq3nhuh0


I mean, seriously...

Nope, that's pretty normal actually. People don't like to get into trouble for nothing.

minding one's own business is an amazing thing in big cities, not making eye contact has become an art form---just like when cops show up to a crime scene, 100 witnesses but nobody saw anything !!

Hector was helpful.

makes me afraid to take my bike to a major city

Bicycle theft is not a high priority. In NYC it is plea bargain city and all you'd get is a slap or less. Then of course if your case gets adjourned several times and the witnesses don't want to take off from work. In the end don't let your bike out of your sight in a big city.

That was classic. I loved the hack saw.

Michael

I didn't know NYC had electrical power supply in the lamp posts for the public to use at their leisure. Cool, I guess if I ever visit & I need electrical power for something on the street I can just open up a lamp post & tap into the power supply via the extension cord inside.

Question... would you approach and challenge a guy with a pair of heavy bolt cutters? A Hacksaw... an angle grinder, a hammer?

He can have the damned bike... I will call the cops for sure, but no way in hell am I gonna try to stop him armed with such stuff.

So what would you have done? Just curious.

Challenge, maybe not, but noone even asked what he was doing- it's NYC, how many of those people probably have camera phones they could've taken a picture with and called police? And yet, at most, people just casually look at him, or in Hector's case, help...

EDIT: Not to mention these are crowds of people, in broad daylight... I doubt anyone with a bit of sanity would attack someone in broad daylight, with that many witnesses (and most likely security cameras)

What makes you think you can judge how sane a bike thief is? Most likely he (because they're mostly men, I bet) isn't a raving lunatic, but you can never be sure how the thief will react if approached.

I have personally done something similar with the same results.

I had locked my bike up next to a bus stop. Upon returning I discovered that someone had attempted to steal my bike, but failed. In the process they crushed the keyhole on the lock. I went home, got a hacksaw and then sat there for about 10mins while sawing away at the lock. A bus came and went, people got on and off; nobody said anything.

Psychology studies show the more people that are around the less likely someone is going to do something. Each person says to themselves, someone else will say something yet noone ever does. If a single person saw this they would more then likely feel obligated to say something or do something to help as noone else is around but them to help.

There is also the thinking.... 'Nobody would be daft enough to steal a bike in broad daylight on a busy street, it must be his and his lock is broken or something'....

Feba... I agree, I would call the police.. and yes get a shot with my cellphone camera, and even hang about to tell the cops which way they went, but I would in no way challenge them personally whilst they are to all effect armed with dangerous weapons. I speak with the voice of bitter experiance, although not with a situation like this. But I once played the good samaritan and ended up having surgerey on my face. Let us also not forget he may not be stealing the bike to use, but to feed a habit... and they may be very desperate to feed that habit. Desperate people can be dangerous.

You don't know if it was obvious that the whole thing was staged or not. It may have been clear that it was being filmed. OTOH... it is still probably typical behavior for bystanders in most major cities.