When University student Steven Bartlett stepped outside his residence at 707 Fifth St. S.E. to go to his garage on Oct. 23, he found a bike — but it wasn’t his.
Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. an unknown burglar stole his bike and left another in its place.
Bartlett said leaving the bike showed the burglars to be considerate thieves.
“It was actually nicer than my bike,” Bartlett said. “I’m not going to ride it around. The police are actually going to come get it. They just told me to hold on to it for a few days.”
The bike was located in a garage in back of Bartlett’s apartment. Bartlett said the garage was left open and the bike was not locked up.
“It was raining out that night, and I just said, ‘Screw it, I’ll close it in the morning,'” Bartlett said.
Although the black Schwinn Cruiser was only worth $100, it had sentimental value to Bartlett, who used the bike to get around campus.
“It wasn’t really an expensive bike, but it was cool,” he said.
The bike was registered with the police, which police say makes it easier to match up recovered property with its rightful owner.
Bartlett said the strangeness of the theft forced him to ask his friends if they were playing a trick on him, but the burglary turned out to be real.
“Maybe they will rip off somebody else’s bike and put mine in its place,” he said.
In other police news:
ù Minneapolis police responded to a fight at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street Southeast last Friday at 12:54 a.m.
Police reports state that an hour and a half earlier, two men on the scene were assaulted with baseball bats.
The suspects fled before police arrived on the scene, and ambulances transported the two victims, Don Andrew Mende Paguyo, 18, and Joshua Soukhanouvang, 18, to Hennepin County Medical Center for treatment.
Four people witnessed the assault.

ù A group of unknown people stole a watch from the Student Book Store at 1501 University Ave. S.E. on Oct. 21.
The men’s watch, which was gold and decorated with the University Regents seal, was taken from a locked glass case inside the store at around 4 p.m.
According to the police report, store manager Mark Hepler reported the crime Oct. 24 to a Minneapolis beat officer who was on patrol.
Hepler said the group could have stolen other things as well, but the only thing he is absolutely sure they stole was the $300 watch.
He added the thieves were gone by the time he noticed that the case was unlocked and the watch was missing.
“For a skilled practitioner, those locks don’t present much of a problem,” Hepler said.
Justin Costley covers police and the courts and welcomes comments at [email protected]. He can also be reached at (612) 627-4070 x3224