*Pictured: One of the bikes stolen by Greene; a tricycle eventually returned to its owner.*
A Brownsville Brooklyn, NY man has repented and return approximately two dozen bicycles he stole during the Christmas season. LaBouqwua Greene of Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood had hidden over 20 bikes in his apartment when he was confronted by Marcus Baptiste.
“The thefts were starting to become apparent around mid-December,” Baptiste explained. “My 10 year old nephew’s bike was stolen, and then my next door neighbor was thefted,” the East Flatbush resident said. Baptiste said that when he read in the local paper about three other bikes being stolen, he knew “something was up.”
Local residents have noted continual conflicts between the native black residents of Brownsville versus the Caribbean residents of East Flatbush. Baptiste’s cousin, Andre Cesaire, lives on Church Ave, the heart of East Flatbush’s Caribbean neighborhood. Cesaire explained how he and his cousin, (Marcus) Baptiste, were visiting a relative on Saratoga Ave in Brownsville. “So me and Marcus are in this apartment building, and walk by a unit with the door open. We notice a bunch of bikes—like wall-to-wall in there,” Cesaire noted. “Suddenly, Marcus sees the bike that belong to his 10-year-old nephew!”
Cesaire said that he wanted to call the police, but his cousin Marcus would have none of it. “Marcus just storm into the apartment to confront this big dude,” Cesaire continued. “Then Marcus demands the guy’s name and why he have all those bikes in there.”
That man with all the bikes is LaBouqwua Greene, a man who has run afoul of the law more than once. But when Greene was confronted by Baptiste and Cesaire for stealing children’s bikes, he did something unusual. He said he was sorry and would give all the bikes back.
Cesaire said that the thief may or may not have been repentant. “Yep, I know that story How the Grinch He Stole Christmas,” Cesaire said. “But I ain’t sure if that thief [Greene] really be sorry. Marcus said he was gonna whoop his ass, just like they do back home in Jamaica when somebody steal somethin’,” Cesaire explained. “I think that’s what made Greene’s heart grow three sizes that day,” Cesaire laughed.
The New York Police Department was unaware of the theft and the outcome. “We hardly go in that neighborhood,” said Lt. Mike Johnson. “I’m just glad they figured it out themselves.”
Baptiste was perhaps more philosophical on the matter. “All them kids got their bikes back, which left me with a good spirit on Christmas,” he said.
This article is a reprint. The story originally appeared in Offbeat Europe, December 27, 2023.
Alessandra Chiu, Staff Writer-Reporter