Sisters confront a suspected bike thief in downtown Kelowna

Photo: Kathy Montgomery

A pair of sisters enjoying themselves downtown Kelowna on Sunday tried in vain to stop a bike theft in broad daylight.

Kathy and her sister Mary were walking downtown along Bernard Avenue on Sunday at around 1 p.m. when they spotted a man stealing a bicycle locked to a bike rack on the back of a white SUV.

"We saw a fellow behind a white SUV and heard a sound like a grinder. Sure enough, he was stealing a bike."

Kathy says she immediately dialled 911 and she says she was hoping police could catch the suspected thief in the act.

"I didn't realize how fast he could do that, the whole thing took less than five minutes."

While she was on the phone, Kathy's sister Mary ran over to confront the thief, "my sister said to him, 'hey you just stole that bike, 'he said no, no it's my friends,' and he just kept riding."

Kathy told Castanet that they didn't think twice about getting involved, "we didn't really think about that (safety) too much."

A photo of the incident shows Mary running beside the suspected bike thief as he pedals away.

"He was stealing it right in open view, it was just a gut instinct that this is wrong," Kathy said.

The sisters did everything in their power to stop the theft — the cyclist took off towards Cawston Avenue and they lost track of him, but not before she got a photo of the bike thief's face.

"It's blurry, but it was the best I could do. I just want to get this guys picture out there maybe someone will recognize him."

Kathy says she made contact with the owner of the bike and let them know it was stolen. The incident was reported to RCMP.

"The owner didn't hold out a lot of hope that anything would come of it," Kathy said.

Photo: Kathy Montgomery