Injured Cyclist Angry After Police Won’t Investigate ‘Tripwire’ in Prospect Park

They say exercise is good for your health, but not when pranksters are out to sabotage your workout.

Michael Wilhelm, 45, was cycling through Prospect Park with a friend one Tuesday evening last month when his wheel caught on a rope tied taut across the path, Gothamist reports. He was thrown off his bike and onto the asphalt, fracturing six ribs and his right elbow.

"My legs were strangely folded. I couldn't lay down, and my whole body was shaking,” he told Gothamist. He hasn’t been able to return to his job in real estate since — and now he’s speaking out.

He and his friend Yisroel Pupko had already completed a few laps at 18 miles per hour when the rope across Park Drive appeared. Pupko said that when he told the police the rope seemed to have been placed there intentionally, they dismissed the idea.

A police spokesman said no crime had been reported for that night, May 20, but did say the rope could've been placed there by accident, according to the Gothamist.

But Pupko and Wilhelm believe it was taut and tied between a telephone poll on one side and a fire hydrant on the other. Pupko said he will continue to press police to investigate so other people don't get injured.

“It could be kids playing a prank, or someone trying to steal a bike,” Wilhelm told The Brooklyn Eagle. “Honestly, I have no idea. I just want the public to be aware, and be safe.”

Reported crime in Prospect Park has decreased following a spike in 2012, according to data from New Yorkers for Parks.