Bournemouth Good Samaritan's bike is stolen as he helped at crash (From Bournemouth Echo)

Bournemouth Good Samaritan's bike is stolen as he helped at crash

3:00pm Friday 11th January 2013 in News By Alex Winter

A GOOD Samaritan who stopped to call for an ambulance after witnessing a car crash turned around to discover his bike had been stolen.

Sam Hooper, 15, of Muscliffe Lane in Bournemouth, was riding his £500 Mongoose Tyax home just after midnight in late December when he saw the collision near Fiveways in Charminster Road.

He ran over to check if there were any casualties of the incident, and believes the thief must have seen what had happened and used the opportunity to take the bike.

The teen, who attends Harewood College, said: “I was coming back from seeing some mates and I stopped in the bus stop to make a call.

“While I was there, I saw the crash happen. I ran over to start helping the lady but when I turned back round the bike was gone.”

Sam’s mum Josie said the theft of the bike was “unbelievable”.

“Sam got the bike for his birthday in June,” she said. “He happened to be going past Fiveways when he saw the accident, and he immediately went over to help as an older lady was in one of the cars. In that time, someone came by and took his bike. It’s just a horrible thing to happen.”

Mrs Hooper said Sam used his bike as his main form of transportation.

“It’s how he gets around – he uses it so he can see his friends and go into town,” she said. “It’s just unbelievable that someone would take it like this. It’s just shocked me. Sam works really hard for his pocket money, and he doesn’t get a lot, so this bike was important to him. It was his pride and joy.”

Just after Sam was given the bike for his birthday, he was hit by a car in Charminster Road, suffering a serious cut to his chin which needed six stitches to close.

Mrs Hooper said: “The bike was really badly damaged, and it cost £300 to have it repaired. Sam had only just started riding it again, and now this has happened.”

Police said there was a collision at Fiveways at around 12.15am on December 22, and they are making inquiries to locate one of the drivers as they allegedly failed to stop. A spokesperson also confirmed that they were investigating the theft of the bike as a separate incident.

To speak to police about either of these incidents, call 101.