An early evening bicycle theft outside Burger King on Social Street was thwarted June 27 when a restaurant employee ID'd the thief, who was later spotted by police riding the bike an hour later on the same street.
At 6:34 p.m. that evening, Officer Gregory Klocek was called to the Burger King on Social Street for a stolen bicycle taken by a man wearing a gray cut off shirt, hair braids and black basketball shorts.
When Klocek arrived, he spoke with a young man, the owner of the bike, who said he'd been at Burger King to visit his mother, who worked there. While inside, he said, he saw the man, later identified as Ernest Alicea, 25, of 323 Main St., taking his bike, a black Mongoose with red pedals.
When the youth stepped outside and confronted Alicea, saying, "That's my bike," Alicea responded, "Ya, this is your bike," the youth said, according to Klocek's report. Alicea then approached him with his hands raised, and the young man ran back into the restaurant, telling his mother.
The boy's mother stepped outside to confront Alicea, telling him to stop. Alicea responded with three sentences based on the same expletive, saying he didn't care, and rode away on the bike. The Burger King manager called police, and another employee there identified the thief as Alicea.
About an hour later, Klocek spotted Alicea on Social Street riding the Mongoose and followed him into a nearby parking lot, turning on his siren to signal him to stop. Alicea continued riding away out of the lot and back on the sidewalk. Klocek eventually pulled his cruiser in front of Alicea and told him to get off the bike, which the thief failed to do. Klocek pulled him from the bike and handcuffed him as he struggled, waiting for other officers to arrive.
With more officers on the scene, Klocek was able to search Alicea, who had a marijuana grinder with a small amount of marijuana in it on his person. He was issued a civil summons for marijuana possession, arrested and charged with larceny of less than $1,500, a misdemeanor.
The bicycle was returned to the young man at Burger King.
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