Samaritan pedals down bike thief

Deirdre Newman

A total stranger made Kira Hurst’s Mother’s Day one to remember.

Hurst had biked down to the river jetties between Newport and

Huntington beaches on the bike trail with her two sons Sunday

afternoon. She was on a girls’ beach cruiser with a third wheel that

her 5-year-old son, Ryan, was pedaling. Her 7-year-old, Kyle, was

riding a bike he had gotten six months ago for his birthday.

When they got down to the jetties, they parked their bikes on the

sand about 30 feet from the bike trail and headed toward the shore.

“You should know better than that, but it was Sunday and there

were a lot of moms around,” Hurst said.

She was keeping one eye on her kids and another on the bikes when

she saw a teenager grab her son’s Mongoose mountain bike and ride

away. She yelled out that someone had stolen the bike.

Jeffrey Moore was in the area with his fiancee and their son and

heard Hurst yell. Angered by the thief, he offered to chase him down

and took off on Hurst’s beach cruiser after the thief, who was riding

with two other boys.

After biking for 4 1/2 miles, he finally caught up with them and

thought of a plan of action in a heartbeat, he said.

“My adrenalin was going good and I felt good,” Moore said. “I just

needed a plan because there were three of them. I figured if they

were going to give me too much of a hard time, I would let them have

it. But I figured I could bluff my way [out of it],” Moore said.

So he forced the trio to stop and then told the thief the cops

were right behind him. That’s all they needed to hear, as the thief

dropped the bike and took off, Moore said.

“This guy didn’t need to do that,” Hurst said. “It was such a nice

kind act. It just made my day, made my whole month actually.”

Another random act of kindness helped Moore get the bike back to

Hurst as a mountain biker who rode by the scene when Moore was

getting the bike back offered to help.

“He rode his bike and steered the other bike for me,” Moore said.

“He was pretty impressed with what happened.”

When they got back, Hurst was floored to see the Mongoose mountain

bike.

“I actually didn’t think they’d get the bike back,” she said. “It

was just wonderful.”

Moore said he was glad he could lend a helping hand to a mom in

need on Mother’s Day.

“Being a Boy Scout when I was a kid and having my own son, I don’t

like any harm to come to children, especially on a family day like

that,” Moore said. “It really made me angry. I was just happy to

help.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.