Ducati Monster Forum

I was coming home from a movie with the wife last night and I saw two guys with a truck and a trailer pull up to a motorcycle sitting by itself in a parking lot.  I have seen this bike in that lot for a few weeks now and I thought it belonged to someone working in the adjacent building.  I pulled over and asked the guys if the bike broke down?  They replied, "Something like that."  I got a weird vibe from the guys, so I asked if either of them had proof of ownership of the bike.

That's when they got really pissed off.  I didn't find it to be an unusual question.  I always have my registration and insurance for my bike in my wallet.  I told them that I had seen the bike sitting there for a while and I wanted to make sure it wasn't being stolen.  One guy then vehemently states that the bike is his and that I should go make the beast with two backs myself.  I got back in my car and called the cops on the drive home.  I don't know if anything came of the incident but both of these guys seemed really shady, and never produced any documentation.

If I was about to throw a parked bike onto a trailer or into the back of a truck and someone asked me for proof of ownership, I'd have absolutely no problem producing the paperwork.  I know too many people get their bikes stolen every year.  Am I off base here?

Sounds like you had a valid concern and didn't say anything out of line. Actually were it my bike and I were picking it up I'd thank you for actually giving a shit.  [thumbsup]

Nothing out of line. At least on your part.

you did the right thing. 

Altho I think I wouldn't have approached two possible thieves.  I would've called the cops and sat there in my car watching, writing down their plate number and taking pictures.

yup [thumbsup]

out of line... not at all, but perhaps not the best way to go about it...
next time you might just want to stay in your car and try to strike up a conversation at a safe distance like "nice bike what size engine is in it? what mods are on it?" kind of thing in a non threatening way. i have yet to meet someone who doesnt like to talk about their bike. and if they dont seem on the up and up, leave and call the cops. try to  get a license plate number and if you can write down their discription. i would hate to hear that it was being stolen and the guys panicked and shot at you or hurt you and your wife... i know here in Hawaii there are just way too many crack heads that wouldnt think twice of killing someone that got in their way. for instance just yesterday (dont mean to thread jack) i saw a couple arguing in a parking lot. the girl kept slapping the guy in the face really hard and the guy kept yelling at her. some good Samaritan tried to  calm them down  and ended up getting punched twice in the face, when he fell down the girl kicked him in the stomach then she got in the car with the guy and they left. probably to have crazy make up sex.

^^Agreed

I wouldn't have asked them such a direct question like that.

It's none of your business and I probably would've said "FU" as well.  ;)

A little more tact would be better especially since bad guys sometimes carry guns and questions like that could p*ss them off.  Probably distract them with the above questions about the bike while your wife was in the car taking down info (descriptions, license plate, etc.) and calling the cops.  Not like anyone is ever expecting to do this kind of thing..in hindsight..it's easy to say coulda/shoulda.

I've seen a couple bicycles and a motorcycle get stolen.  I called the cops immediately with my concerns and asked them to call me back when/if they caught the theives and/or recovered the property.  

Funny how tight the Duc community is though.  After I posted the bike in Kirkland being stolen, someone on here said they saw it parked downtown and the cops were able to recover it.    [thumbsup]

Good call on the vibe, bad call on the confrontation. unless you have a badge, best to observe and report.

of course everyone has said this already.

If it were my bike and i was picking it up, i would thank you for caring though. so, maybe he was stealing it, unless i had a chip on my shoulder like someone :D

Not out of line and you walked away instead of pushing a confrontation, so I don't think it's a big deal. If those guys were legit, chances are they wouldn't have been so pissed off.

Personally, if someone asks me for some proof of ID or ownership or basically anything, my standard answer is, "Who the make the beast with two backs are you, the police?" 

If you thought something hinky was going on, call the police.   But to ask someone for their proof of ownership, that could get  you shot, or raped and shot, or beat up, raped and shot.   You aren't the police.

If it were my bike and someone was attempting to steal it, I would have appreciated your efforts.


If it were my bike and I were loading it into a pick-up and you stopped to ask me if it were mine, with genuine concern, I would have appreciated your inquisition.

They could have been repo-men just trying to get the job done asap.

Either way I wouldn't get involved unless someone was getting hurt.
Just call the man with the plate numbers.

Get plate number from safe distance and pics if you can. Then call the police sit back and watch. If turns out to be a theft in progress approach the police after the arrest, and tell them you called. They will need your info and statement.   

Confronting two possible thieves is a great way to get shot...
Let the boys in blue handle it -that's what we pay them for.   [thumbsup]

i think that the intent was great but if somebody pulled up to me demanding to see proof of ownership while i was hauling my bike onto a trailer for whatever reason (assuming i've had some issues starting it or whatever, i would be in a bad mood already) i would tell you to piss off too. call it in to the cops if you are really concerned.

and as others have said, if they were stealing the bike than confronting them is a great way to get yourself hurt.

I agree with most of the others, your intentions were good .....but best to not get personally involved other than get their license plate descriptions and their descriptions and call the  [leo].

Then stay near by and watch what happens .

Dolph      :)

I gotta say....you try that shit in Atlanta and you might get shot by a theif.

It's fine to have concerns, but to ask someone for proof of ownership?  Best case the guy is going to tell you to get make the beast with two backsed.  Middle case he's going to say that, and come break your teeth out.  Worst case was discussed in the first response above.

Not your business, not your problem. 

I would have gone by shooting rounds out the window while e-brake sliding at top speed. After my presence was well known I would pull over and get out in slow motion only to ask in my best Duke Nukem voice "It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum."

But seriously way to be a man but try to be more safe next time. There are many people in this world who wouldn't hesitate to kill you for a bike.

Lesson learned, but glad there are still people out there who care.

That's only if the police give a shit. Hell they don't even respond to most home burglar alarms. Much less business alarms. Why would they care about a stolen bike? [bang]

No, I say you did nothing wrong at all. Good for you for caring. You saw a situation and may have read it perfectly. Why the hell wouldn't a real owner be able to produce some sort of documentation of ownership and be thankful that you had concerns about their bike. Who on this board wouldn't feel the same way?? If the owner was actually picking up the bike and acted like a turd to you for acting concerned I say screw him. I hope his bike gets stolen next time and witnesses never say a word! [thumbsup]

now i realize that we are not allowed to have "cop talk" but maybe this is one instance where the "cops" can actually chime in and actually tell "law abiding citizens" what to do in this situation to actually make their jobs easier for both us and them  so that EVERYBODY US AND THEM are more safe in the future.

I think the  [leo] that commonly post on this board should step up and say something of what should be done if one were to see this situation.  

This is not a negative comment but asking politely that  [leo] of the board tell us what the proper actions to take are in this situation to make their jobs easier and safer and also if it was stolen ensure that the right thing is done.

I believe Grifo already did?!

No you are not out of line,but a bit dangerous on the technique on how you approach the two guys.I would've thanked you if it was my bike though.You're a good guy  [thumbsup]

Not out of line, but you couldn't have put yourself and your wife out on a limb.  Hopefully a similar situation will not happen again, but if it does I say follow Grifo's advice.  FYI - If it was me I would have thanked you for looking out.

I already chimed in page 1, best way to go about it.   Way to go fastwin  [roll]   

Meh.


Say you break down one day at work, you had things to do, needed to leave. Won't start, you try push starting it, etc, no luck. You call your buddy, but he can't be there for a few hours. You finally get to start loading it up way late, like, late enough a movie is getting out.

Some idjit comes up and asks if it's my bike? I'd swear at you and tell you if you think I'm stealing it, call the &(%^ cops.

It's none of your business.

I agree with everyone except Mr. I  ;D

One time I got pulled over (my plate had fallen off  :-[) and the cop spent a fair amount of time checking the vin, etc.

He was actually apologetic about the whole thing. I laughed and said "Well, if I weren't me, I'd appreciate the fact that you caught me stealing my bike. Er. you know what I mean."

bettter to be a good observer than anything else.

Pictures and description are always a plus and will help the police if the bike is indeed being stolen.

I would have done the same. In fact I did once. I saw a guy loading a car on a towing truck in the middle of the night. I went to him and asked him about it. He said he was a repo man and the best time to deal with that is in the middle of the night. Calling the cops would have been my next move.

just curious what your wife said to you as you were about to leave her in the car to confront 2 possible thieves ... my X would have left me there for being stupid hahahha

When he said "most police" G, I think he was just talking about you. 






 ;D

I cant tell you the number of times over the years I have gone to pick up a bike at a clients house, or work, or wherever, and just rolled up, loaded it up, and left, without a word, in broad daylight.

Only one time did I have a guy ask me what I was doing, and I told him I was loading up a bike for a client. He told me to stop right there, and wait for the police. I laughed, finished loading up, and went inside the office building to see my client. We walked back out together, and this guy had actually pulled his car behind my van so I was blocked into the space! I was laughing so hard I almost pee'd a lil bit. My client was FURIOUS, and I asked the gentleman to move his car before the police were filling out and accident report of a Sentra squashed by a E350. I gave him my card and asked him to have the police contact me if they needed to.

On the way out I rolled down my window and asked him what he would have done if I was a bad guy, and was stealing the bike, and had decided to unholster my Sig 226? He didn't have an answer and I HOPE he never does anything like that again. Its not worth it, ever. Hand over the wallet and walk away.

OK, just to clarify. I in no way wrote that to be insulting to individual police officers. No way. I was really referring to my city's police department's attitude and rules toward burglar alarms. Sure, maybe some individual officers really don't give a shit but I was commenting on the police dept. in my town not any officers of any department. Sorry if my comments offended any officers out there. My wife and I worked in my county's criminal courthouse for many years and we have many personal friends that are active police officers. Those officers also express their frustrations to us about certain goofy department rules they object too. I'm sure officers everywhere can relate.

Anyway, I apologize if you took my comments personally. I should have thought better on how my post could be easily misunderstood. [leo] [thumbsup]

I was at a gas station yesterday and saw a shady character with a coat hanger down the window of a car trying to unlock it.........

I thought for a minute and just left and hopped back in my car and back on the freeway. For any of you that are my Facebook friends, you can see the picture. It is pretty make the beast with two backsing funny.


They might have actually been "stealing" it, but legally.

You said it had been parked in the same spot for several weeks?


Depending on state law, that has grounds to become someone else's property.

In Ohio, if a motor vehicle (motorcycles included) are left unattended for xx days (I believe it is 14-30 days), then anyone can take it.

Here's the catch........

You take said vehicle and then apply at the BMV to take over the title as an "abandoned vehicle"

They send a letter to the registered owner and if they don't respond in xx days (again, I think it is 14-30), the vehicle then gets titled in your name.



I agree with Mr. I on this one. I'd have left them alone.

Just apply the same line of thought to other things and see how it works out.


Sir, can you prove the young lady is with you of her own free will? Is she of legal age to be in this bar? Can you prove it? I mean, if she were my daughter I'd want people to check.
Sir, do you have a receipt for that case of scotch you're loading up?
Maybe ask the guy at the airport for his claim check when he takes a bag?


Why just with bikes?

We still have a no cops talk rule.

Just sayin'

because sometimes, the world needs to say enough is enough. we're going in the shitter BECAUSE we stopped caring. If you saw a girl being dragged off, you wouldn't say something, or at least alert someone? what if she was being kidnapped and was going to be killed... would you then say... boy glad i didn't get involved???

Who said anything about a girl getting dragged off?

I'm asking if you would ask for her ID to make sure she could drink in the bar you're in. Would you? Why only check to see if some illegal activities are being committed, but not others?


Also, epic fail for the OP-I'm sorry, but last thing I'd ever do is leave my wife alone in the car to confront two potential thieves over a bike that's not even mine. make the beast with two backs that.

Yeah... I stepped up, I played hero once when I was younger. I beat the sh!t out of the guy til the cops showed up, thinking I was going to get a pat on the back for stepping up.

I got arrested, charged, and almost lost my freedom for a long, long time.

No details, but suffice to say that if I see an event like that now, I call the cops, and sit and wait.

sounds like the best thing to do is just not get involved with other people's business.

even if you do something "nice" for someone, in all likelihood you are going to get blamed for something, thus the saying "no good deed goes unpunished"

in this situation, its not your job to stop someone from stealing other's property that is the LEO job and you don't have to help them at all.  If theycan't do the jobs themselves that is their problem not yours.

guess we can't be complainning about "neighborly help" at times, because this thread shows that everyone when push comes to shove WILL NOT ever step up if there is any danger.

and all of that is fine, just don't act so surprised when the next thread about people walking by someone dying and not helping comes up, we have all shown here that we really don't want to get involved if real danger is ever on the line.

Good on you for getting involved, because if it prevented my bike from getting stolen then  [bow_down]

That being said, maybe it could have been done differently, just to be safe.
 I once was slim jimming my own car because i locked the keys inside. A guy passing by in a truck stopped and kept asking if that was my car.
I was annoyed because i already did something dumb, but in hindsight, he was just looking out for a fellow citizen. kudos!

Next time just start screaming and running around the truck... [popcorn]

I don't know how you got that from any of the posts on here.

you did the right thing.

but, if there's anything i've learned (which evidently others have too, based on this thread)
is that doing the right thing quite normally yields you absolutely nothing but anguish and shit.

that being said, i will continue to do what i think is the right thing, and deal with this worlds consequences as the authorities see fit. the way they judge me is the least of my concerns.

A reasonable, common sense answer was posted. It's mixed in with the usual assorted crap posted by the usuals whenever cops come up.

It's property people. Replaceable property. Park a bit away and call the cops. Stay there as long as you feel it is safe so you can give suspect descriptions, direction of travel, etc. When it starts to hint at being dicey .....leave. Because it's just property.   

Not much more to be said here.