Left my bike locked up at a rack on a road for pedestrian and commercial vehicles. Two hours later and I return to find that the bike has been flipped over the rack and both wheels are warped. Police have been unhelpful, saying for myself to request CCTV footage and that they won’t investigate as no one person had been injured.
I’m so pissed, had this bike for one month now, its been a dream to ride, and some fuck probably in a commercial vehicle didn’t care to check mirrors while parking, then drove off without leaving any detail.
The bike repairshop are saying the bike frame has a 5mm misalignment, both wheels will need replacing…
In my area of the US at least, that is basically how it goes even for cars. If it was a hit and run and you weren’t in the car they’re just like “well good luck wkth the insurance company bro that really sucks”
Wow, didn’t know that.
In Germany, where I come from, “Unfallflucht” (“fleeing an accident”) is a criminal offense, and for criminal offenses the police has to investigate by law.
And it’s also no joke, the penalties are potentially severe.
Basically this also applies to damaging a parked bike with your car, only the final penalty for the offender might be lower, depending on amount of damage, but it would still be a criminal offense (as opposed to a purely civil matter).
Wouldn’t have expected the US to be that different, especially given the grim no-joke-reputation the US police forces have…
It’s also a crime anywhere in the US. Whether the police will do much to investigate beyond typing up a report probably depends on how easy it is for them to solve, whether you matter, etc.
My original point exactly.
*insert Peter Griffin traffic control meme here, but with a car vs. a bike instead of light vs. dark skin color*
Police here don’t give a fuck about your car or your bike or your dog or anything else, unless they would get in trouble by doing nothing about it.
they should actually file a report but you may have to press them to do it.
Lol, what I heard in such cases was “Wollen Sie nen Brief wenn wir’s einstellen?” (“Do you want a letter when we close the investigation?”)
Which is honestly whatever. I just had to talk to them to check a box for insurance.
My poor '98 Honda civic’s front bumper was literally ripped off in a mall parking garage - someone backed into it, then must have hooked something, and floored it. The police said they couldn’t do anything because it’s private property, and the mall said they didn’t have any security footage because, “we don’t film the garages - it would be a liability”. I’m in the Midwest of the US.
Yup. But some guy picking up floating paint from the reflecting pool gets tracked down and charged with a felony