Two bike thieves got away - but not from a lack of effort from local police and the secretary at Mamquam Elementary School.
Janet Smillie was walking down the hall back to her office last Thursday (June 9) when she noticed two young men were trying to remove a pair of bikes from the rack just outside the main entrance of the school.
Two bikes were stolen from the school the day before and Smillie didn't want any more children to lose their bikes.
"I grabbed my keys and told Margaret [the Vice Principal), 'Not two days in a row,'" said Smillie.The thieves were on their own bikes.
According to Smillie, the students all lock their bikes so the crooks had to cut the locks to free the bikes.Smillie said she hopped into her vehicle to follow the thieves. She saw the pair enter the trail just south of the Viking Ridge townhouses and she caught up with them at the point where the trail intersects Mamquam Road.
"By the time I got there they had the bikes taken apart and in the vehicle," Smillie said. "I told them the bikes weren't theirs."
At that point the suspects left one bike laying on the side of the road and they drove off in a blue older model Volkswagen Golf. Smillie noted the vehicle plate number and the fact that there was a green new driver magnet on the vehicle.
Smillie said she tried to block them from getting away but they went around her vehicle. She then reported all the information to the RCMP.
Cpl. Dave Ritchie said it didn't take long to find the vehicle. "We made patrols and tried to corner them in," Ritchie said. "We were right there but didn't get them."
The suspects were able to maneuver their vehicle and get away while the RCMP members involved were trying to coordinate their next move.
Smillie said the recent thefts at her school are causing some kids to leave their bikes at home.
"They feel awful," Smillie said. "Their parents spend a lot of money on these bikes and mountain biking is a big thing here."
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