Comedian Rich Kiamco attacked by gang of bike-riding teens

By Cristina DC Pastor

What happened to standup comic Rich Kiamco the afternoon of February 10 was no laughing matter.

As he wrote on Facebook, “i got jumped by a gang of teens en route to my club SAT, daylight 5:19pm…i was using a citibike Electric BIKE, fast 20-25mph, especially downhill. this group came running after me on street, they seemed 2be stealing from citibike docks… after i outpedalled one of them, others came biking after me…

“it would b funny if they were NOT chasing me thru traffic / side slamming into me trying get me killed.. it was like MAD MAX meets E.T… crazy violent i did not know how to get them to stop chasing me… i biked into oncoming traffic – they STILL followed me, ran me over the curb- slammed me into fence and stole the EBIKE.”

Rich said anywhere from eight to 12  teens hanging out at the Citi Bike station in Jersey City came after him. He did not think it was an aggression motivated by anti-Asian hate.  

“They may have targeted me because I had an Electric Citi Bike,” he said when interviewed by The FilAm. “It looked like that were trying to steal the e-bikes.”

At the end of the 1.5 mile chase there were only two teens left. They were side swiping Rich from another e-bike.

“It was confusing, terrifying  because they could have been killed too trying to smash me into traffic,” he said.

Nobody came to the rescue. “It would be hard to rescue an e-bike chase, nobody knows why this crazy chase against traffic was happening.”

E-bike theft is on the rise. In New York City, more than 4,000 cases were reported in 2020 during the pandemic, according to reports. Electric bikes are a premium because thieves can break them up and sell the parts.

Rich said the Jersey City police officers and detectives who responded to his 911 call “were thorough.”

“They were tracing the area,” he said. “The bike has a GPS on it and the cops could see on the phone where they were headed.”

Rich gave them a description of the teens, and a bunch of them “in possession of several stolen E-bikes” were apprehended.  He hid inside a tinted window car and identified them in a lineup, he said.   

Another officer drove him to  “with flashing lights” to the Laugh Tour Comedy Club just in time to do two shows.

“I talked about it on stage, to process the crime,” he told The FilAm. “The late show was my 51st sold-out show. It’s strange to have both things happen in the same day.”

Rich said he continues to experience PTSD flashbacks “raging and (having) weird tears.”

Otherwise, he is not too badly hurt, sustaining only a minor gash, a shoulder bruise and some neck pain.

He returned to the precinct the following day to work with the detectives.

“They all wanna come to the club now LOL,” he says on Facebook.

Rich Kiamco is one of eight LGBTQ individuals whose stories were put on spotlight in the ABC’s special series “Our America: Who I’m meant to be.” It aired in 2022.  

He performs in comedy clubs across New York City and Jersey City. Catch him at West Side Comedy Club, Stress Factory, Bananas, Broadway Comedy Club, Greenwich Village Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, Stand Up NY. He is full-time at The Laugh Tour Comedy Club  inside Dorrian’s Jersey City.

He will be at Park West Theater Chicago March 20 to 21, featuring for Indian comedienne Zarna Garg.

This article is also published in https://www.gmanetwork.com