Stereo Smashed; Society takes Action
As many of you saw on my facebook and twitter, my stereo was destroyed today by some young hooligan.
Here’s the story; I was grooving down to English Bay to dance in the sun. When I arrived everybody was enjoying the beach. A couple young guys who looked like soccer fans were having fun in the distance. They were wearing their nations colors proud. One jumped right in front of my boombox and started juggling a soccer ball. I cheered him on. He was doing alright, then I went to join in. Everything was fine and he left.
During my next song I was performing for a large group of people who stopped dead in their tracks. This is when one of them grabbed my boombox and moved it. I noticed after and moved it back. A 3rd time these guys stepped up to my equipment and I heard people at the beach say, “Leave his stuff alone.” I looked back and walked over to them. They instantly told me they weren’t doing anything and that they were “ravers”. I took his word for it and said, “Okay, lets dance!”
I went back to dancing and didn’t think anything of it. All of a sudden this guy runs, grabs my ghetto blaster, and heads down the path. Good thing I practice running with all the joggers down at English Bay. As soon as he saw me gaining on him he smashed the radio on the ground. BANG; batteries all over, volume button rolling around, and wires torn. I looked up at him and grabbed him and yelled, “What the $%^%, why?” In the heat of the moment he just tried to wiggle away. I didn’t want to just let him run and my adrenaline was through the roof so I whipped him to the ground. His head bounced off the ground and I backed away. He stumbled up, looked at me, and ran out into the street.
I walked over to my baby 
. Boomster was down for the count. I picked him up piece by piece to asses the damage. While carrying it back to my bag people started surrounding me. They all instantly started handing me money. One man took his cigar out of his mouth and handed me a $100 bill. I couldn’t believe the support I was getting. We pretty much covered the cost of the boombox. 
Everyone came together for the greater good.
Little did we know, our criminals were under arrest! The same man who wrote this amazing Vancouver Sun article about me had caught the suspect. A police officer arrived at English Bay to get the story. He told me about two options; I charge him for damages and after a witness statement I get a court date OR I can handle it under some civil thing and drop the charges if the criminal meets my offer of $220 in damages.
I headed back home waiting on the verdict from the police. I had to get my batteries transfered over to my back up box before the sun was gone. My phone rang and the officer told me he was on his way over with the money.
In the end justice prevailed. Vancouver is an amazing place to be. It’s a big city, but the west end sure has a big heart. In fact this shows how great democracy and society can be. I feel the victim learned his lesson and we all won. Even he will see how great of a country Canada is. We may not have a championship soccer team, but we sure have each others backs.
Thanks again to all the commenters, supporters, and Graeme for that TIGHT citizens arrest. He even ran into the boys later on and snapped this photo. I wish I could see the front of the guy in the back. 
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Keep smiling! ~SpandyAndy
