Almost got jumped being a good Samaritan.

[Jon Mire]

o i am just getting home from quite the experience and wish i was carrying something more than a knife.

so i was on my way home via cata bus. i hoped off to catch a connecting bus at the mall and i saw a bike unlocked. I stuck around to see if an owner would be back shortly which turned into three hours which was when the mall closed. figures...but the people watching was worth it.... in that time i locked it up because 2 others tried to steal the bicycle in an obvious way and it was getting thrown around. no big deal figured the owner would walk up to it and be like hey whats up with this? (done it before and it works to keep the thieves away) It was a nice nothing special Schwinn bmx bike i figured some little kid forgot to lock up. so when closing time rolls around i figured i would unlock it and roll it over to the police station 2 blocks away as an abandoned/stolen bike as it was sundown.

well the second i unlock it this lil kid starts questioning me about the bike, (the interview) he was maybe ten.
i told him no it wasn't mine and i was taking it with me. and he said it was his even though the seat was set as tall as he was. as soon as he said that this other dude steps in which was the obvious muscle because he took his shirt of and wanted to fight for it via taking off his shirt and posturing. at this point i considered my knife but was in a bad position on my bike with a backpack. gosh there was plenty of plenty of people around waiting for other buses...grrr.... but i stayed calm and cool and tried to proceed as thought responsible.

told the muscle i didn't want to fight and was just trying to be a good Samaritan and get it to its owner. then he said it was his. hmmm... doubtful by his body language. he couldn't even repeat Samaritan which said volumes. then i asked him what the serial numbers where and he looked down and away and he said didn't know. then clenched his fists and stared me down...um yeah stolen.... but the seat was set to his inseam obviously as he stood next to it. plus they had three transfers in hand for kid, muscle and muscles girl. they were traveling by bus.

i was hoping for some proof or at least a thank you from the owner but i found the thief. that was a bit of a surprise! lesson learned!

well long story short lost the bike when they ripped it out of my hands,  found security, nike gone, security was asked to walk me out in case he wanted to jump me. plus side i was able to point out two of the thieves to security as they tried to make a get away via bus. apparently this has been an ongoing problem at the mall of people getting jumped for there bikes next to the bus depot. no harm to myself or person because i had to back down. thank heavens it wasn't my daily bike that this happened with. man there was no time for anything and took all of a few minutes at most. thieves won! grrr

oddly enough this is the second bike i had taken from my hands this way. the first one was a road racer i built. i never saw it coming and got knocked out cold by six guys from behind when i asked for my bike back because i didn't lock it up.

ya.... time for OC/CC full time.... this is getting ridiculous being an honest person.

but in that situation would i have been lawful to ?__________? even though it wasn't my property. as it was found property? if i where to defend other persons property is that lawful?

that was one weird experience and makes me wonder if its worth my time in the future. but i am at least carrying a camera for in the future if i decide   to be a nice person again and document it to cover my butt.

[yance]

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(dnutpu45mrybye551yfmd555))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-780-972

Michigan's self defense law ^^

The law itself makes no mention to the protection of property, be it yours or someone else's, if you would have drawn on a person in this situation you would potentially be sitting in a court defending your actions. In a situation like this the mere presence of an OC pistol might help but there are no guarantees, especially if they presented no weapons you don't have many choices other than calling the police and reporting it or doing what you did and contacting mall security.

You did what was right, unless they had a weapon or had a very significant amount of others with them you wouldn't be totally legal in presenting a firearm. The law states you must feel that you are in fear of your life or great bodily harm, which would have to be backed up by some evidence.

Again you did the right thing given the circumstances, you should never risk your life or well being for property, especially someone else's property. 

[TheQ]

The moral of the story is: don't hang out outside the Lansing mall. If I had to guess, this was the doors by the food court?

Not a good place to be hanging out...just sayin'

[TheQ]

Also, the story started out bad: "I got on a CATA bus (unarmed)..."

[METL]

I understand what you're saying but why in the hell would you be hanging out at the mall guarding someone else's piece of crap bike?  It was probably stolen in the first place and got left there.   Why put yourself in a bad spot over who knows who's $80 bike?  (if even 80)


I don't get why you would put that much time and effort.  Even if you took it to the cops, they would likely not care and it would only end up in an auction for $$$ in the police pocket.

[Jon Mire]

The moral of the story is: don't hang out outside the Lansing mall. If I had to guess, this was the doors by the food court?

Not a good place to be hanging out...just sayin'
Also, the story started out bad: "I got on a CATA bus (unarmed)..."

right... on a side note you can CC on cata i has pictures of there rules poster.
it was actually the okemos meridian mall and i didn't want to hang out there but was just being a nice guy.

Posted by: METL
I don't get why you would put that much time and effort

The first thing that came to mind was some kid went to the mall and didn't lock his bike up for a quick run inside to get a friend. not thinking as all kids do sometimes, the kid could loose his ride home, etc. etc.
there are some days where i feel compelled to 'pay it forward' because people have helped me out in the past. i can't count how many times i have jumped out of my car to help a guy try to push his car to the gas station/parking lot a block away because it stopped running. hey what can i say, i am an old fashioned thirty something kinda guy

posted by yance
The law itself makes no mention to the protection of property, be it yours or someone else's

thank you. between what you have said and the Michigan found or abandoned property laws. my moral compass has been put at ease. i have learned alot!

[yance]

Another option if youre ever in that situation, dont wait for them to show up (considering what happend this time) but take the bike to mall security if no one arrives within a couple minutes.  If someone did leave it and is concerned about it odds are they will report a "stolen" bike to mall security and then they can release the bike to its owner, that way you dont find yourself in a similar situation.

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with helping people, the world would be a better place if we have more honest good samaritans, but like I said never put yourself in a situation where you could be in harms way, you can still be a good samaritan by taking it to mall security.

But all you can do is learn from your experiences and be thankful nothing came of the situation.

[ocdetroit]

  + 1 Carry On.

[bagz013]

Dude, props to you for being a good samaratian but no reason to get your butt kicked it put in a bad situation for somebody else crap......especially not a bike.

Good for you to walk away though. No need to show how much testosterone you have like the shirtless wuss