Specifically (published in a shortened form): "The long-known 'bicycle maniac' has become active again in Riga. He has schizophrenia. The police know him, the residents know him, yet he continues to attack people. Residents of Imanta, Zolitūde, and Kipsala have been talking about this aggressive psycho for several years now. Over time, the geography of the maniac has expanded, and yesterday in the very center of the city, on the Esplanade, near the intersection of Elizabetes and Baznīcas, our acquaintance Maxim Sedov was beaten. He was walking with his wife to their car. There was no argument, no conflict, no communication with strangers. A cyclist dressed in black approached. He aligned himself and struck the person in the face with all his might. The glasses shattered, and the face was broken. The cyclist immediately dashed towards the Art Museum and disappeared into the crowd. The victim's wife managed to photograph him from behind. In the photo, there is a slender man on a bicycle, dressed almost entirely in black: black top, black tight pants, head covered. At first, it could be thought that this was a random episode, but then comments came in. It turned out that Riga has known this cyclist since at least 2024... Back in December 2024, in the Facebook group Imanta, a woman recounted how she was walking with a stroller. A cyclist approached them. He first came close to the stroller, leaned over, and looked under the visor. He left. Then he made a circle, returned, and hit the woman on the head. After that, he continued to circle nearby, as if waiting for them. The description was as follows: completely black clothing, black jacket, hood on his head, face covered with a balaclava. And now the most interesting part. One of the residents of Imanta recounted a very specific story. One evening, this person approached his son and demanded his sneakers. The boy managed to escape, called his father, and they called the police. The police arrived. And, according to the father, they began to dissuade him from filing a report. They said that they had nothing on this person, that they did not know where he lived, that a report would be useless and would not yield anything. After this, the father wrote a post in the Imanta group. And there it suddenly turned out that there were numerous calls about this person. And that the police allegedly told other people something similar: that there was no particular sense in filing reports. But one report was filed, and it included documented injuries. The victim was persistent: he gathered information for the police himself, including the name and address. After that, the man was detained. And it turned out that he had a psychiatric diagnosis. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital. And the next day, he was released. According to residents, this story repeated itself... The victims are women, men, elderly people. In one case, a person approaches a child. In another, he looks into a stroller. In the third, he hits a woman. In the fourth, he attacks an elderly man from behind. In the fifth, he strikes a man in the face in the very center of Riga. And no one can do anything. And here arises a question for the system. The police cannot imprison the maniac because he has a psychiatric diagnosis. The psychiatric hospital also, for some reason, cannot conduct an examination, recognize the psycho as dangerous to society, and keep him indefinitely. But if a person systematically commits physical assaults, the state must come up with a way to protect those around him. This is a person who has been attacking the residents of Riga without reason for years. And the next blow may not result in just broken glasses. We ask the new Minister of the Interior Janis Dombrova to ensure the safety of the residents of Riga!" The portal bb.lv will monitor the situation.
