Thief caught on camera cutting off bike lock with power saw in Financial District

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Codi Wilson CP24.com

A video captured by a cab driver parked near York and Queen streets shows a man cutting off a bike lock with a power saw. (Twitter/ Louloubelle57)

A Toronto man says there is very little police can do to retrieve his bike that was stolen by a man with a power saw in the city’s Financial District one afternoon last month.

The brazen theft, which was captured on video by a cab driver parked in the area, occurred near York and Queen streets on Aug. 24.

In the video, a suspect is seen using a power saw to cut through the lock of a bike secured to a bike post on the sidewalk.

Cab driver Moe Khan, who shot the video, said when the thief was finished, he and a second man walked away with the stolen bike, leaving the bicycle they arrived with behind.

Ben James, the owner of the stolen bike, told CTV News Toronto on Thursday that he learned his bike had been taken when he got off of work at 5 p.m. that day.

He later spoke to Khan, who showed him the video of what happened.

“It was cool to see, in a way, how it is done,” James said with a laugh. “But then you are just angry that someone would do that.”

He said he was shocked that someone had stolen his bike with such a loud tool in a busy downtown neighbourhood in the middle of the day.

“We are not talking about a bad neighbourhood. We are talking about the Financial District, downtown Toronto. People are everywhere,” he said.

James said he filed a police report shortly after the incident occurred.

“Unfortunately there is nothing really they can do unless you have the serial number,” he said. “I never wrote that down.”

He added that he is thankful someone decided to pull out their cellphone and record the theft.

“Somebody with a power tool, like a circular saw, could be maybe a little terrifying, a little scary,” James said. “He was brave enough to stick with the video there.”

James said he used to ride to and from work every day on his bike before it was stolen.

“Back on the TTC,” he said.