Teen Stole Bike So He Wouldn't Be Late To School: Hackettstown Police

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — We've all had one of those mornings, where you oversleep, get ready in a mad dash and are somehow still late for school or work. For one Hackettstown teen, simply skipping breakfast wasn't enough to make up for lost time: he stole a bike to get to school faster.

Hackettstown police say a 16-year-old boy stole the bike from a rack outside of Hackettstown Middle School before classes on Tuesday. He rode the bike .6 miles to Hackettstown High School in an attempt to make it on time.

Instead of a tardy slip, the teen was charged with theft and released to an adult, and the bike was returned to its rightful owner.

Hackettstown police shared some helpful tips to get your day off to a better start, and hopefully avoid taking any bikes that aren't yours:

• Set out your clothes for school the night before.
• Pack your bag and homework the night before.
• Make your lunch the night before.
• Consider having your shower before bed.
• Go to bed on time.
• Set an alarm.
• Get up when you hear the alarm. A frequent problem is slapping the snooze button and drifting off again. Don't do this. Instead, when your alarm goes off, think fast, get out of bed straight away. If the snooze button turns out to be hard to resist, place your alarm somewhere else in the bedroom so that you have to get up to turn it off. By the time you're up, you're up.
• Move your alarm clock to the complete opposite side of the room (away from your bed). So you have to physically get up out of bed each time the alarm goes off.
• Play the alarm or music as loudly as you can in the morning, so that you can't stand it any longer, and you just want to get out of bed.
• Get out the door and on your way. You'll now be sure get to school before it's too LATE!

Image: Patch File Photo

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