GoPro Footage Helps Capture Armed Robbery Suspects

Surveillance footage used to solve crimes usually comes from a stationary camera, perhaps mounted in the corner of a gas station, a shopping center, or an ATM. But even security cams have now gone mobile, as evidenced in a new YouTube clip filmed with a GoPro.

Last Saturday, Malcolm Fox was finishing up a bike ride at Sir Lowry's Pass in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Fox fitted himself with a GoPro helmet for the trek. As the cyclist crossed a set of train tracks, he looked up and saw a man armed with a gun approach him.

Fox immediately stopped, got off the bike, and raised both hands in the air. According to Fox, two accomplices then joined the suspect. The biker was cooperative, not putting up a fight as the robbers took his sunglasses, car keys, cellphone, and bike.

They left Fox with just his helmet, with the GoPro camera still mounted to it and recording.

The Citizen, a daily newspaper in South Africa, reports that police used the footage to arrest all three men; two of whom were found the day after the incident. Authorities took a third into custody on Monday.

"Thorough investigation work led investigators to the suspects with the help of the footage," Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut told the news outlet. All three suspects were charged with robbery and appeared in court on Tuesday. Their next court appearance will be later this month.

As for Fox's belongings, his cellphone was recovered, but the whereabouts of his mountain bike was unknown as of Wednesday. Perhaps most important though, Fox escaped the situation unscathed — and with his GoPro camera.