How low can you get? Callous thief steals bike from injured rider after car crash

A cyclist from Leeds has slammed the "absolutely disgraceful" thief who took his £1,700 bike while he lay injured in the road after being hit by a car.

Shane Fitzsimons, 55, suffered a broken wrist, arm, collar bone and rib when he was hit by a 4x4 in Bramley.

As he lay in the road, dazed and semi-conscious, his Saracen Ariel mountain bike was stolen.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “It’s absolutely disgraceful. There are some people who, if you laid there long enough, would chip the gold fillings out of your teeth.”

The crash happened when Mr Fitzsimons, who works for an advertising company, was shopping on his bike.

A number of people stopped at the scene, but that didn't deter the brazen thief.

Mr Fitzsimons said: “As I was lying there in the road I saw this guy on the bike. I was in so much shock I couldn’t say anything and he rode off.”

The damage to his arm was sufficiently serious that he has not yet returned to work after the crash on August 25.

He believes the bike is still on the Broadlea estate.

“It’s important to me to get it back,” he said. “It’s worth nearly as much as my car.”

Sgt Mo Gother, of the inner west neighbourhood policing team, said: “It’s appalling that someone would steal a bicycle while its owner was lying seriously injured after a road traffic collision.

“We carried out extensive enquiries to try to trace the suspect but have been unable to identify him. CCTV showed a male wheeling the bike away up Broadlea Hill but the footage was not of sufficient quality to identify him.

“There were some names suggested initially for people who were said to have the bike but these were followed up and eliminated from the enquiry.

“Although some time has passed since the incident we would welcome any new information from the community about who took the bike or its current whereabouts.”

Sgt Gother can be contacted by calling the Leeds neighbourhood policing team on 101.