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Eli Greer wasn’t ready to part with his old Giant Upland two-wheel mountain bike and buy a new one. Sure, someone had stolen it. But he believed he would somehow get it back.
The green bike disappeared the Sunday before last from the enclosed front porch of Greer’s Ellsworth Avenue home. Greer, 34, an Edgewood neighborhood “activist and dad,” had put the bike there to prepare for a weekly ride with a friend. This Sunday they were going to trace the route from the annual New Haven Labor Day road race.
Greer went inside the house for 10 minutes. He returned to find the bike gone.
Bummer. Not only was the ride shot. The vehicular embodiment of 20 years of memories had vanished.
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“I used this bike since I was in high school,” Greer said. “I’ve been all over Connecticut in the bike. I’ve been on every family trip with this bike. I was disappointed that on a Sunday morning that someone could go into an enclosed porch and just take a bicycle. I was even considering if I found the person who stole the bike of offering to give him some yard work to buy a bike.”
Greer called the police; they arrived at his home within 10 minutes to take a report. He also texted Edgewood’s top cop, Lt. Makiem Miller. Miller promised he and his crew would keep an eye out for the green Upland with the rack and two water-bottle holders on the back.
“I am going to find the bike,” Greer told people. He wasn’t ready to consider buying a replacement.
Tree Provides Cover
Fast forward to this past Sunday. Not long after noon, a woman called police. She said she was on the second floor of her home; a young man was breaking into the first floor.
Again on Ellsworth Avenue, this time down by Crescent Street in the Beaver Hills neighborhood (near Southern Connecticut State University).
When the call came in, Lt. Miller was nearby in his cruiser, at the police dog pound on Fournier Street. He got to the block in less than a minute, parked up the street, then hid behind a tree by the woman’s house where he could see the front and back doors. He had arrived so fast, back-up hadn’t yet arrived. So he didn’t want to rush the house alone.
“A few seconds later a kid came running out the back door,” Miller said. “He was trying to run to the side of the garage where he had a mountain bike stored. He had white tube socks on his hands, one sock on each hand, like the way we did puppets in the old days.”
Miller approached the alleged burglar (a 17-year-old from Hamden) and arrested him at gunpoint. The police put the bike in the evidence room.
Ready To Ride Again
The next day Greer read about the arrest in this Independent article. Could it be the same bike?
He contacted Miller. Miller texted Greer a photo of the bike. Yep — that was the one.
Greer was ecstatic, and full of praise for Miller’s quick work in the Sunday arrest.
The cops told Greer he should have his bike back by the end of the week. Come Sunday, he and his friend plan to hit the road race route.
Yes, Greer, said, he will bring his bike to the front porch before the ride. This time, he said, “I’ll lock the porch door.”