I flipped backwards off my bike, landed on my head and back. Still
unaware of what was going on, I saw the guy leaning over. “To help me
up,” I thought. “To take my bike,” I corrected myself. Then I grabbed
at either his leg or my bike (I can’t remember which now) and then let
go, because I began to realize what was happening. Since I was being
robbed, I figured he wanted my wallet, so I reached for my wallet, then
noticed he was riding off into Manhattan.

The deed being done, I figured it’s safe to stand up. And then I
further realized that I was very out of breath from being hit in the
neck and landing on my back. I lay down and catch my breath.
Considering I was just clotheslined off my bicycle, I felt pretty good.

Apparently some other people thought I looked pretty good. A guy on
a bicycle slowed down, looked down at me, said “Are you alright?” and
kept riding on. Some other people thought I probably did not look so
good, and they stopped their commute to call the police and talk to me.
The man who attacked me was apparently 6′ 2″, though the people who
described it to me could have been exaggerating.

After a couple minutes, some police officers arrived. Once it was
clear that there were no serious injuries, the police officer said,
“That’s it? That’s a welcome to Brooklyn.”