A motorcycle rider says his decision to take the long way home led to the lucky break that helped him recover his friend’s stolen dirt bike.
Liam Robertson was on his way from Surrey to Vancouver on Saturday when he decided to go through New Westminster instead of taking the freeway.
While riding along Stewardson Way, Robertson noticed two men pushing a yellow dirt bike along a path beside the road.
Remembering his friend’s yellow dirt bike had been stolen from the underground parkade of a nearby apartment building just a few days earlier, Robertson decided to go back and investigate, and he captured the whole interaction on his helmet cam.
“I pulled up to the guys to get a closer look and I asked if they needed help because they were trying to get it through a fence,” said Robertson. “That was just my way of getting close enough to get video of their faces, as well as me seeing the bike to make sure it was the one I was looking for.”
After seeing it up close, he was pretty sure it was the one his friend was missing so he called police.
A few minutes later, the video shows several New Westminster Police vehicles arriving, and as officers approach the men with the dirt bike one of them can be heard repeatedly saying he didn’t steal it.
Robertson said police initially handcuffed both men, but eventually released one and took the other into custody.
New Westminster Police have confirmed they have an open file on the case but haven’t said if charges have been recommended against anybody.
In the meantime, Robertson says his friend is excited to have his dirt bike back.
“He couldn’t get in his truck and drive over fast enough. He was thrilled,” he said. “He couldn’t believe that it was one of his friends who found the bike. He couldn’t even believe he got the bike at all.”
