Biker Assaulted on bike path by gang of teens, IPOD stolen
 

Posted on South Bay wheelmen forum



[Released] Ballona Creek - Unfriendly Confrontation

I was out yesterday afternoon heading west on the Ballona Creek bike path entering beneath either the Sepulveda or Sawtelle Blvds overpasses to see a group of what appeared to be teenage kids along both sides of the bike path near the far end of the overpass. As ride forward one kid making eye contact begins to cross my path, I yell careful, he bumps me tight as I pass him, I swerve right and a kid standing to the right of the path a few feet in front grabs my handle bar. I remember the right side of the path being a 3 or 4 foot high wall with a steep angled grade above that. In a moment I am swarmed by all the kids, there had to been at least 10 or more punks on me, there were hands grabbing into my jersey pockets, my bike computers and on an ipod strapped to the stem, the bike tugging in all directions, fists start flying at me. I lost hold of the bike as one of the punks started dragging it by the rear wheel toward the center of the overpass where the lighting was dimmer. I remember it being dragged for a good 30 feet or so. Once he got the ipod he backed off and the rest of the group dispersed. Luckily no injuries and only minor damage to the bike and I was able to ride home. I go through here all the time and never though such a thing could happen. Be careful out there!

You need to pack a tazer or some other form of less-lethal defense. If you can get a CCW permit in your area perhaps that is another option. I believe it's ridiculous to have to tolerate this from anyone - much less some punk kids.

I'm sorry for your loss and your attack.


Peace,


Dea

Calling that an "unfriendly confrontation" is a bit of an understatement, IMO.

How about robbery or assault? Hope the person is OK.

That is terrible. Those kids should have to suffer. They should be made to wish they never did that. Or at least made to wish they had the money for corrective surgery.

Now I remember why I used to ride with pepper spray. WTF?!?!??!?!

I dont think its a good idea to even think about carrying a gun ! i mean this is terrible but the idea of killing someone over an i pod is way off base..

What's troubling is that's not the first time I've heard this happening at Ballona Creek. I guess that's why I don't ride solo on bike trails.

Wow, that is really scary... I'm sorry you had to go through that. However, I'm thankful you were not hurt! Did you report it?

you MUST report it to the cops. there have been other incidents in the recent past and the cops were pretty on it. it's most likely punks from the projects right there, and they need to be kept in line. culver city has spent too much money on their makeover and can't afford this stuff to happen.
Report it to the police now, and fire off some emails to the culver city council members.
http://www.culvercity.org/council/council.asp?sec=gov

Please make sure to file a Police report. I know that they're not going to be able to catch the punks that did this, but there needs to be a record of it happening.

Time to set up a sting operation.

why didnt you fight back? being submissive gets you nowhere.

When there are ten against one, it's a little hard to do. Even though they are cowardly.

When I'm alone on the SGRT and I see a group like that I turn around.

+1 Best post so far aside from the "Are you okay?" ones. Intelligent and tactic-driven advice.

if i saw a gang of kids looking suspicious like this i would speed up and blast through them as fast as possible. even if they are planning to jack you they won't want to get plowed down by someone going ~30mph.

thanks
i actually emailed a link to this thread to one of the councilman. you GOTTA speak up for sure.

I was taught in my martial arts training that if you are attacked by a group, first go after
the biggest person or the obvious leader of the group (if easily identified). You'll have
to fight that person anyway, and the group will back off since they think their leader
wont need help.

those troublesome preteens...

Rode the Simi Bikepath today with my wife and 13 year daughter. As we went under one bridge, we went by a large pack of adults hanging out in there, loud and boisterous, singing and clearly intoxicated. Scared the heck out of my daughter. The group ignored us however on the return trip, we bypassed that section and opted for the street. No sense in being stupid about it.

Sheldon

I never liked the Simi Bike path Sheldon. Very few bicyclists actually use it and it is well off the beaten path so it is more of a hang out than anything.

all i can imagine is some dude in spandex beating up and chucking a bunch of unruly midgets dressed in wrestling singlets. do i have it all wrong?

I rode through that area in the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday. Didn't see anything. Too bad.

Can you provide the link to the South Bay Wheelmen forum (if its non-member accessible)?

You see some suspicious characters there periodically, but I've never had much trouble. I usually stare down anybody that looks like they would be a threat. Unfortunately, many cyclists are slight of build, and they may present tempting targets to some punks.

As someone mentioned above, pepper spray is the way to go if you feel threatened. It's legal to carry, it's inexpensive, it's easy to use, it's non-lethal, and it's very effective (incapacitating, as one 300 lb cop explained to me that had it used on him as part of his training.) A number of policemen I've talked to swear by the stuff.

carry a dagger, always.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ious/legsI.jpg

Report to police?
 

Hey, 53x11,

I am super, super glad you came away pretty much OK, but this has me freaked out. I commute through there, so please, please, please do report it to the police if you haven't yet. 10 to 1 it's the project kids making their bones, or playing at it, so the cops really need to know about it before it gets any more out of hand.

Thanks!

he deserved it

thats what you get when you dont workout ur upperbody

u get owned by preteens

id DESTROY THEM INTO THE GROUND AND BEAT DOWN THEIR PARENTS IF THEY TRIED