A man is facing felony charges after he allegedly stole an on-duty Chicago police officer’s patrol bike while the cop was eating lunch in Little Italy on Wednesday. Shawn Goodloe, 38, is charged with one count of felony theft for the caper, which unfolded around 2 p.m. outside Fontano’s Subs, 1058 West Polk.
Prosecutors said the officer left his bike outside while he went on break. But lunch was cut short when a witness informed the cop that someone had just stolen his bike.
Officers went outside and allegedly found Goodloe riding the $2,300 bike down Carpenter Street.
During Goodloe’s bail hearing, Judge Barbara Dawkins sounded less concerned that Goodloe might steal a bike and more concerned that he would choose an expensive bike that exceeded the state’s felony threshold.
“OK. I’m going to say something to you, sir. Do not respond,” Dawkins counseled Goodloe. “You stole an officer’s bike. And you know the officer’s bike’s gonna be worth a felony amount.”
She then released him on his own recognizance.
Wednesday’s incident is at least the second time this year that someone stole a Chicago police bike patrol officer’s ride. It also happened in the Loop on the evening of March 2 at 68 East Wacker Place. That’s the address of Hampton Inn, across the street from Morton’s Steakhouse.
“Officers secured their bicycles and entered an establishment,” a CPD spokesperson said at the time. “Upon exiting, it had been discovered that three unknown male offenders were able to un-secure one of the bicycles and flee westbound from the location.”
The spokesperson would not say whether the officers were on break or handling a call when the thieves swiped the department’s bike.
Cops recovered the bike around 5:15 a.m. the next day after a man called 911 to report that a Chicago Police Department bicycle and “other items” were on his company’s deck near Adams and State streets.
No charges were announced in the March theft.
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