I wanted to share an experience I had last weekend in Whistler. First a bit of background. I'm 44 years old, I've been riding in B.C. (Whistler, Pemberton, Squamish, Shore) since the late 90's. Mt. biking is in my blood, I'm a complete bike geek. My current bike (for the last two years) is a black 2010 SX Trail with white 36 float, lots of purple powder coated bits (done by a friend), chromag bars and seat, and 8 speed drive train. In other words, a pretty custom bike.
So I drove up Thursday night from Seattle to ride the park for the first and only time this season. Rode solo Friday (had a friend coming up that night) and stopped at 2:30 due to rain. Checked into my room and at 5 decided I'd ride down to the lifts and wash off my bike for the next days fun. Once finished I was called over to talk to a few bike patrollers hanging out after work. They told me someone accused me of stealing their bike and what did I think of that. Of course I was surprised but cooperated by allowing them to take a picture of my I.D. and proceeded to talk about my bike and how I was quite familiar with it. They said the guy seemed sketchy (one even jokingly referred to him as a "Quebexican" a term I'd not heard before) and sent me on my way.
So I'm rolling back to my room at the Summit Lodge and a cop comes flying up behind me, sirens blaring, and "pulls me over". Next thing I know he's forcing me to drop my bike on the ground and I'm in handcuffs! Surely this isn't happening I think to myself as the cop tells me I'm being detained for bike theft. He also patted me down and asked if I had any needles or weapons (really, did I look that sketchy?). A plain clothes then walks off with my bike as I'm sitting in the back of the cop car being peppered with questions about myself and the bike. This went on for about 20 minutes after which plain clothes comes back with my bike, they un-cuff me and tell me I'm free to go. Oh but not before plain clothes tells me I should always wear a helmet, gee thanks dick. No apology either….
This has to qualify as one of the most surreal and disturbing experiences I've been through since I don't know when. I'm all for cracking down on bike theives but their tactics seemed a bit over the top. And thank god I wasn't with my family, that would have been a nice site for my daughters.
So I guess I'm curious what Canadians think of this, has anyone else had this happen to them or heard of such a thing? And what are the chances the accuser(s) are bike theives hoping to somehow acquire bikes with the consent of the RCMP? I find it hard to believe anyone would mistake my bike for theirs.
Thanks, end of tirade……
Handcuffed for "stealing" my own bike by the RCMP
the cops were doing their job. no harm, no foul. sorry you feel you will wet your pants the rest of your life, that wasn't the intention. it's good to see that the police are TRYING to do something about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of bikes being pinched at Whis.
this rant kinda reminds me of the American in Calgary story - where he wanted to pull a gun on someone for trying to give him free tickets to the rodeo. Sorry, but it does.
Welcome to Canada! You didn't get kicked,punched,tazered or shot? you sure it was the cops?:canada:
Well, on one hand sorry this happened to you and the cuffing seems over the top. But on the other hand if tables were reversed you'd be quite pleased if the rcmp hauled down some douche who had your bike, and you'd probably be hoping he got worse than a cuffing.
I can only surmise that there was someone who legitimately thought you had his bike, and he made a convincing case to the cops. Nice to see that they take it seriously… It's important for whistler that it not be free for all bike theft zone, to keep the tourists coming.
You'd have to compare the experience to one you'd have with your own police force in Seattle. Cops up here tend to be a goon squad, but nice to know they'd help out if ever my rig got swiped.
An apology would have probably gone a long way to smoothing things over tho.
Something doesnt add up here. It didn't rain on Friday.
dont lissen to zedbra. ever since he hit 3 millie in rep he thinks he knows everything….
the cops were doing their job. no harm, no foul. sorry you feel you will wet your pants the rest of your life, that wasn't the intention. it's good to see that the police are TRYING to do something about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of bikes being pinched at Whis.
this rant kinda reminds me of the American in Calgary story - where he wanted to pull a gun on someone for trying to give him free tickets to the rodeo. Sorry, but it does.
You can't possibly be serious. Handcuffing a cooperating person on the street with no real proof of any misdeed is not something any cop should be allowed to do. There are plenty of ways cops could be cracking down on bike thieves and this is not one of them.
the cops were doing their job. no harm, no foul. sorry you feel you will wet your pants the rest of your life, that wasn't the intention. it's good to see that the police are TRYING to do something about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of bikes being pinched at Whis.
this rant kinda reminds me of the American in Calgary story - where he wanted to pull a gun on someone for trying to give him free tickets to the rodeo. Sorry, but it does.
Seriously???
The fact that this guy is american is totally irrelevant. I would be pissed if I were him. Sounds like a pretty ridiculous story.
It's not like its out of the blue. Someone had obviously reported it so they followed up. Handcuffed, well yes so you can't get away. Patted down, pretty standard. An apology would have been nice, or at least an explanation of what led them to this though.
I'd be a bit more pissed at whoever reported you as a bike thief. It would be really funny if it was your buddy. That would be a good one!
The "needles or weapons" question is pretty standard. Has nothing to do with how you look. I can see why you would be annoyed by the whole experience but really, in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor inconvenience that lasted all of 20 minutes. Hardly some great injustice.
I think an apology and maybe an explanation would have been in order. The fact they brought your bike back makes me think it was a legit person making the theft claim. If it was a scam I would think they'd say it was their bike.
"Dont be fooled Timmy, if the cow had a chance he'd kill you and everyone you love."
gimme a break, orange. They handcuff for protection in case, you know, they meet bad people. They can't afford to take a chance. This fellow was a nice guy, simple mistake, but the drama is funny. 'Imagine if my daughter saw!' - that shit is on TV all day everyday.
Here's what a Seattle cop did to a BC native. The cop didn't face charges.
The person really owing the apology here is the buddy that incorrectly sicced the cops on you. If he did it on purpose, then he committed a crime of mischief himself in the accusation. However, if an honest mistake, the guy should nut up and treat you to a few jugs of Whistler's finest at the brew house, bare minimum, you could both probably look back and laugh at it if a bit of common courtesy had been shown. Glad to see that the cops are actually taking bike theft seriously, but people need to be sure if they are pointing their finger at someone.
I got shoved to the ground by a cop once…I started to cry…and you know what he Did?
He just laughed, he just looked at me and started laughing. I will never be the same.
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