Stolen bike returned to owner after police arrest man with warrants, drugs

KENT, Wash. — A woman who uses a bike to get to her job was delighted to have it returned by officers after it was stolen in Kent.

Over the weekend, two Kent Police officers were called to a location on the East Kill for a report of someone using a torch to cut off a bike lock.

While heading to the call, they saw the suspect, a 26-year-old Kent man, with the bike at a Big 5 sporting goods store on 104th Ave Southeast.

When officers tried to talk to the man, he jumped onto the stolen bike and tried to get away, but “his Ninja bike skills failed him,” Kent police joked in a Facebook post.

As he pedaled away with the officers following him in their car, he went down a dead end, left the bike behind, and tried to run, but fell instead.

Next, he tried to climb a fence, but that, too, was unsuccessful. He was taken into custody and the bike was recovered.

During a search of the suspect, police found a tool used to steal cars and some of what was suspected to be fentanyl.

Officers discovered the suspect had a $10,000 burglary warrant from the King County Sheriff’s Office and a no-bail warrant out of Kent for vehicle trespass.

He was booked into jail for the warrants, theft, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of motor vehicle theft tools.

But what about the bike? Though officers got it back, they had no idea who the owner was, so they tied it to the push bars on an officer’s patrol car and brought it back to the area where the 911 call was placed.

It turned out that a Value Village employee owned the bike, used it to get to her job, and was “delighted it was returned,” according to Kent Police.

©2023 Cox Media Group