Avid Cyclist Grateful to get his stolen bike returned by sharp-eyed officer

A bike enthusiast who will be known as ‘B.V.’ for the purpose of this story, was happy to get his favourite bike back after it was found downtown by an alert police officer.

B.V.’s bicycle, affectionately nicknamed Speed Demon, was stolen from a locked bike room in the owner’s condo building on March 16.

Cst. Sebastien Lemay spotted the bike abandoned at the corner of Daly Avenue and Cumberland Street while there for an unrelated matter. Thinking the high-end bike looked out of place, he ran the serial number, but couldn’t locate it on file in the police computer system.

He seized the bike and held onto it. When he ran it again on March 25, there was a match.

Unsure he’d ever see the racing bike again, B.V. was thrilled when Cst. Lemay contacted him to say it had been found.

The officer made arrangements for B.V. to pick up the bike and told him about bike registration services offered by Ottawa Police, like 529 Garage.

Despite owning more than one bike and cycling regularly for work and with his family, B.V. hadn’t gotten around to registering his bike.

“This case definitely demonstrates the importance of registering bikes and serial numbers,” said B.V. “All five of our bikes are registered now.”

Cst. Lemay encourages everyone to register, but if you have the misfortune of your bike being stolen, you still need to contact police immediately to report it. “In this case, we found it before the owner actually reported it stolen,” he said.

B.V. says this is an example of how one officer made a difference, however small that may seem in the grand scheme of things.

“Thank you Cst. Lemay, for all you have done. Keep up the great work as a police officer,” said B.V. “Ottawa Police should be very proud of its members like yourself.”