U-Lock cutting

The picture to the right is of a Santa Monica Fire Department officer using a gasoline powered circular saw with a special circurlar blade for cutting hardened steel, cutting through a U-lock. The owner of the u-lock and the bike, had lost his key and couldn't open his lock. He asked the a Santa Monica police officer for assistance. The SMPD called to the Santa Monica Fire dept to see if they could help. They sent a crew out to the location of the bicycle with that special saw. It took several minutes to make a single cut. The blade created a light show of flying sparks. And it created blaring sounds as the blade grinded through the hardened steel and as the gasoline motor revved up, to make that cut.

The picture to the bottom right is what the lock looked like after it got cut off by the Santa Monica Fire Department.

The lock was cut off in downtown Santa Monica, near the store space which is now occupied by REI at 4th and Santa Monica blvd, sometime around 2002.