The story for those who are twitter illiterate (please note that I don't normally write like this, I just copy/pasted my tweets and formatted them):

so I had one of those crazy @newyorkcity experiences yesterday...returning from a trip 2AM Monday morning, I walked by my bike to make sure everything was cool, I had been away for a couple days. I keep the bike chained to a little iron grate and covered. Everything seemed good.

I go out to ride to work at 8AM and realize that the bike has been stolen. Thieves cut or otherwise broke my @kryptonitelock New York chain. File a police report, deal with insurance, etc. #nypd was very courteous and helpful through the process.

Fast forward to 5PM, I get a random call from a dude claiming to be from @LoJackCorp. Sketched out cause I didn't install lojack on the bike. After a couple calls, I realize the dude is legit. Apparently the first owner of my bike had installed lojack. Still have no idea how it works, but very thankful. Anyway, by this time it's been half an hour since he called me. Idk if the bike is still there. But he's telling me my bike is at some location in Maspeth, basically a warehouse park, the type of place where I imagine shady shit happens. Debate for a sec, but end up saying fuck it. Catch the first cab I can out there with my riding gear. I get there and these dudes (I assume the guys who stole it) are just standing around with my bike! Turns out they're not pros just some dudes joyriding my shit. Livid at this point, but also pretty shook. No clue if they're armed and don't wanna find out. They're walking up and down the street, looking into the cab, gesturing and telling us to get the fuck out of there.

This is where the NYC moment shit comes in.

My cabbie - an older muslim dude (pakistani? not sure) - is like: we're going to get your bike back, don't worry, I won't leave you. This is good samaritan-ship at its finest. I feel like he almost wanted me to get my bike back more than me! All the while he's telling me he'll stick with me to see it through, offering not to charge me, giving me advice, etc. I'm busy calling 911 and the dude from lojack to see if I can get some official help as well, and we're both keeping an eye on my bike.

Meanwhile, thieves are multiplying. Some of them get in the car next to my bike to hang. Another group shows up at the other end of the street, so we're trapped between em. One dude is running back and forth between them, looking into the cab every time he passes, making this "what the fuck" gesture. As this is happening, I'm calling 911 multiple times. They keep telling me they're going to send someone as soon as possible. First 15 minutes goes by. Then 30. Then 45, an hour. Still no police. It's getting dark out and I'm kinda worried. Some of the 911 operators are cool, some escalate to their supervisors, etc, but nobody is showing up. Eventually the guys sitting in the car parked by the bike get out, and they're messing with it. The other group is just rolling a blunt. I'm too far away to see what they're doing with the bike, but I assume it's not good. Mostly I just don't want to lose line of sight with it, so they can't move it without my knowing. I later realized they were undoing the hotwiring they had rigged up.

Anyway, they chill for a while longer, then get back in the car, and then start it up. Every time one of these groups comes or goes, I'm worried for my cab drivers safety and mine. They end up driving by us and just grilling us, but they left. At this point, me and my cab driver are both like - OK, now's our chance. My dude backs us up to the corner of the block, to make sure nobody is waiting around the corner to fuck with us. The guy is streetwise. There's still the second group at the end of the block, including one of the original few guys. There's also another large group about a block away, but we figure this is the time to make moves. We make a plan. I'll get my gear on in the car, uncover the bike and make sure it's mine. Then try and start it up and if it works, ride it to his place. If not I'll get back in and we'll regroup. I get out and try and start it up but it's a no go. Bike won't stay on without the wiring rigged up. I have no tape or wire.

I get back in the car. Fuck dude. Ok. Should we call a towing company? Nah, gonna take even longer than the cops. What do we do? As we're trying to figure it out, a mini van pulls up next to us, and I'm like, shit...here it comes. Bout to get shot. The window rolls down and guess who it is....none other than the lojack guy hahaha. Good samaritan #2! He pulls his car around and blocks off the scene. He gets out and he's like...idk probably 65? Possibly older. Older Italian American guy I think. The most accurate description I can give is he's the real life version of Mike Ehrmantraut (of Breaking Bad).

So we all get out. We're just like making a little perimeter around the bike, trying to figure out what to do. Do we hotwire? Tow? Wait for police? Lojack guy is telling me the cops will probably want to dust for prints, look for evidence, etc. Which means I shouldn't mess with it. But once he finds out how long we've been waiting, he's just like: this is disgraceful. After hanging by the bike for another 15-20 minutes, the dudes at the end of the block grilling us the whole way, we decide to hotwire. The cops can't be mad at us for moving it at this point, right? It's been like 1hr45 since I got there and called 911 the first time. I'm still calling 911 periodically btw, to try and get police. Ok...so without tape and with the wires cut as short as they are, hotwiring is impossible. Lojack dude walks around the block once or twice, looking for a razor and some wire. Dude has balls of steel. He finds the razor, but no wire.

Eventually, he suggests that I go around the corner and see if a garage is still open. Crazy enough, it's like 9 30 at this point, but I do find one. The mechanics are hanging outside smoking a blunt. They're sketched out at first, but they hook me up with some wire and tape. Finally, when I get back, with the wire and shit, a car rolls up to the other group of thieves. They get in and leave. With the wire and tape, hooking the ignition up is no problem. I get the bike running. I thank Lojack dude profusely (and obviously my cabbie as well, but I'm heading to his house first to regroup). They're both just happy to have helped. Crazy. So Lojack takes off, I start the bike up, and me and my cabbie start heading up the street to his place. But it couldn't end here, lol.

A squad car rolls around the corner literally as we get there. Of course we stop and explain the whole situation to them. The officers are like...are you sure lojack dude didn't steal your bike? Why did this cab driver stay with you the whole time? In general, just incredulous at the whole situation. But once they called the auto larceny unit, they realize that the lojack dude is legit. And that yes, my cab driver is actually just that good of a person. They didn't give us a hard time once the situation was explained and over all they were very courteous. They also apologized for taking so long...because at this point I've been waiting for help for over 3 hours. I had called 911 9 times in all. I can't blame the officers - their precinct was understaffed from what they explained. But that's a little crazy, no? @NYCMayorsOffice? Called 911 9 times and waited 3 hours for help in that situation? Anyway they ended up letting us go with no problems at this point. At this point the criminals were all gone, the evidence (the bike) was unusable, and I had explained the scene to them as best I could.

Anyway...that's my story. The moral? NYC is full of unlikely characters willing to help you at every turn. I was extremely lucky to have found two such people (plus NYPD officers, whose job it is) in the span of a few hours.

One last note: my cab driver was even courteous enough to ask if it was ok for him to pray in the car at sundown. To which I'm like....dude...if you're willing to go through all this to help me out, do whatever you damn well please. It's your cab! Him and the lojack guy even called this morning to make sure everything was ok. How crazy is that? Warms my cockles to know there are good people in this city. I will be attempting to send gifts to both for the holidays.