TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa man said his 14-year-old son is both a victim and a witness to two bicycle robberies at a skate park on March 11.
"One young man or older teenager approached my son, Griffin, and asked if he could ride his bicycle," said James Deming, Griffin's dad. "Griffin said, 'no' and was holding tightly onto his bicycle. The kid shoved the bicycle into Griffin, pushed him over, grabbed the bike, and got on it and started riding it."
James said Griffin watched in shock as a second robber did the same thing to another child.
"A second gentleman, a second perpetrator, grabbed a kid on another bike, threw him off the bicycle, got on that bicycle, and they shouted some profanities at my child and then rode off," said James.
Officer Danny Bean with the Tulsa Police Department confirmed the thefts happened at the Gathering Place skate park and are being investigated as strong-arm robberies.
"The bikes were forcibly taken from them," said Bean. "Probably, some older kids them off their bikes and then took the younger kids' bikes."
He said TPD is seeing an increase in teens hanging out at the Gathering Place after dark but not an uptick in crime.
"I can't say by any means we've had any influx or crime go up," said Bean. "A beautiful place to be, especially when the weather's nice. There's nothing... to worry about. These are kind of isolated incidents."
However, the Demings said they plan to find a new skate park to visit.
"Griffin is doing okay. He wasn't physically hurt, he wasn't scared, at least he says he wasn't scared," said James. "But he's mad. He's mad he lost his bicycle. And he's sad that he may not get the opportunity to go back any time soon."
Call Crime Stoppers if you know anything about these robberies.
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