An alert resident of 91原创鈥檚 Olympic Village had his bike stolen, then returned, all within an hour, thanks to some citizen sleuthing and the 91原创 Police Department K-9 unit.
Chris Hilliard was asleep in his condo at 4:30 a.m. Friday when he awoke to the sound of metal crashing to the ground. A peek from his fourth-floor balcony revealed a thief had cut through his steel U-bolt bike lock and made off with his ride, a $600 GT Traffic 2.0 model that he鈥檇 secured at an outdoor bike rack.
Hilliard鈥檚 first instinct was to give chase, but his wife convinced him it was too dangerous. A few minutes later, unable to resist, he went outside to look, but the thief was long gone.
By then the 34-year-old IT project manager was too keyed-up to sleep, so he decided to go out for a coffee, driving to a shop he knew opened early in Gastown.
On the way, driving down Main Street, he suddenly did a double take: there was the man with his bike.
鈥淚 followed slowly 30 feet behind him and watched him, contemplating what I would do next,鈥� Hilliard said. 鈥淪hould I confront him? Should I pretend I鈥檓 interested in buying the bike off him and ride away? Should I snatch and grab?鈥�
Remembering his wife鈥檚 warning, he called 911 instead and continued to tail the thief in his car.
While on the line with a dispatcher he followed the suspect down to Hastings Street, then to an alley near Columbia Street.
The suspect, noticing Hilliard鈥檚 vehicle, began to get nervous and gathered with a group of others.
Just then, an unmarked 91原创 Police SUV pulled up alongside Hilliard to confirm he鈥檇 called in a bike theft.
Officer Dan Ames and his K-9 German shepherd went into the alley an came out with Hilliard鈥檚 bike in hand.
VPD Const. Brian Montague confirmed that 鈥渨ith the assistance of a K-9 unit, police arrested a 39-year-old man early this morning after allegedly stealing a bike from the Olympic Village area,鈥� and that 鈥渢he bike was returned to the owner.鈥�
鈥淚 had got my bike back within an hour of it being stolen,鈥� Hilliard said, incredulously. 鈥淚 put it into the trunk of my SUV, drove home, and with a smile on my face I thought, 鈥楳y wife isn鈥檛 going to believe this.鈥� 鈥�
And she didn鈥檛. Until he walked through the door with it.
听
