Shawn Carrol was directing traffic along Terminal Ave. on Wednesday, May 22, when he saw a man ride by on his bike, which had been stolen from Caroll's Nanaimo yard the day before. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

stolen bike

‘Hey buddy, that’s my bike!:’ stolen bicycle recovered as alleged thief pedals past rightful Nanaimo owner

May 23, 2024 | 3:13 PM

NANAIMO — A local construction worker’s luck took a strange turn this week, as he recovered his missing bicycle when he spotted someone else riding it right past his work site.

Shawn Carrol had his Rocky Mountain hardtail mountain bike stolen from his yard earlier in the week.

Carrol was doing flag work with Tactical Traffic Control at the paving job along Terminal Ave. at Commercial St. around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, when he spotted his stolen bike.

“I saw… a homeless guy with my bike, so I kind of chased him down and I was like, ‘hey, buddy, that’s my bike!’ And he was pretty quiet, (I) kind of shook him and he was pretty scared. And then he was refusing to get off the bike.”

Carrol said the commotion drew the attention of bystanders who offered to call the police while others began to record the situation on their phones.

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He said he did use some colourful language towards the man while firmly demanding the return of his bike, while also trying to avoid escalating the situation further.

“I was like, ‘man, you need to go off. I don’t want to cause a scene and start a fight while I’m at work, I’ve got my co-workers here, please get off my bike’, and they kept saying he bought it off somebody. I was like, ‘well, I don’t care who you bought it off of…because you bought stolen property.”

Eventually, the man gave up the bike and left the scene and Carrol was able to store it in a safe, indoor location.

While he said it’s not the first time his bike has been stolen, he’s grateful luck was on his side and he was able to get it back within 24 hours in almost the same condition.

“There’s just the seat, they probably had it in the bush, so there’s like thorn holes in it, and like a couple of scuffs on it, but nothing too crazy. That was just lucky to find it within such a short time before they chopped it up.”

The paving work in the downtown area is currently in the final phase of a massive project to upgrade the downtown corridor from Esplanade to Commercial St., affecting traffic in the area for almost a year.

Traffic control is currently all around Nanaimo’s downtown along Terminal Ave. from Commercial St. to Esplanade St. The paving work should be completed by early next week, weather dependent. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow