SOUTH PASADENA — A South Pasadena man went for a wild ride early Wednesday after he spotted three men stealing his motorcycle and jumped into their van as it fled, police said.
The incident was reported about 4:30 a.m. in the 300 block of Pasadena Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Robert Bartle said.
A 32-year-old man came outside and noticed his motorcycle had been loaded into a white van, the lieutenant said.
As the van pulled away, the motorcycle owner jumped in through the open rear cargo doors, Bartle said.
The driver apparently attempted to shake the man out of the van by quickly slowing and stopping, but the man held on, Bartle said, “Until he heard one of them say ‘just shoot him.'”
At that point, the man jumped out of the van, which was traveling at a very low speed, he said.
The man did not report seeing a gun, and could only described the thieves as three Latino men.
South Pasadena police tracked the motorcycle via a LoJack anti-theft system and found it abandoned and undamaged in Los Angeles, not far from the South Pasadena border, Bartle said.