April 17, 2006 — Giga-Bike/La-Z-Boy junior rider Adrian Johnson (17) found himself in a heroic situation yesterday when he foiled a real-time robbery of a woman in her sixties. The robber, who stood six feet tall, 190 pounds and was out on parole, snatched the elderly woman’s purse while on a bicycle. Adrian and his father witnessed the robbery and before Adrian’s dad could park his vehicle Adrian had jumped out and pursued the robber on foot. Johnson succeeded in cornering him in a parking lot across the street from a popular restaurant. A security guard who witnessed the take down by Adrian and his father rushed from the restaurant to assist them in the apprehension. (Source Times-Colonist http://www.teamgigabike.com/pdf/robberyfoil.pdf)

“Adrian showed extreme courage which put him in a very dangerous position, especially considering the type of violent crime he was dealing with. Adrian’s act of courage is unquestionably amazing and the team is proud of him that he was able to end this lady’s nightmare”, says Giga-Bike President Calvin Straathof.

A crowd of 30-40 people gathered around the robber shouting “scumbag”. When police arrived it took four officers and pepper spray to subdue the man. The thief’s parole was revoked and he was returned to jail and charged with robbery.

“Chasing down the man was the kind of decision made in the heat of the moment”, said Adrian. “We’ve talked about it in the sense that possibly it was valiant, but probably not really good judgement”, he continued. “Obviously it’s one of those situations where people look at it and say there’s something heroic about it, but personally I say I just wouldn’t want [a robbery] done to me,” added Adrian.