Apr 4, 2008 12:00 pm US/Eastern
Crook Snatches Disabled Boy's Wheelchair
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS) ―
A thief took the only form of transportation a young disabled boy had, stealing it from in front of the boy's own home before the school bus showed up, CBS station KOVR-TV in Sacramento reports.
The front of the home is where they place the wheelchair every morning. Unfortunately, this morning it had a different outcome. Bud and Stacy live for their three boys. Two of them are disabled so getting them ready for school takes some time. Seven-year-old Rider's wheelchair and walker were left outside each day for a school bus driver to pick up. But this morning their routine was rattled.
"I was in shock that the wheelchair and walker were both missing from the driveway," said Bud Brown, Rider's father.
"I just felt that someone was parked out front and ready to grab it when they could," said Stacy Berndt, Rider's mother.
The couple says the wheelchair is worth around $4,000 and the walker around $600. But they say you can't put a price on the wheelchair fitted for their child.
"They order all the parts, then they assemble it. It takes a long time," said Stacy.
People in Sacramento's River Park neighborhood are in disbelief.
"How could somebody do that?" asked one neighbor. "What will they do with them?"
"I just never heard of anything that low. It's just unbelievable," said another neighbor.
Many in this tight-knit community know each other very well and for something like this to happen to one of their own, has them worried.
"It's very, very sad. Stacy and Bud don't deserve something like that; they really don't because they are just wonderful," said a neighbor.
For now, Bud and Stacy are looking into loaners until they can replace their child's expensive wheelchair.
In fact, the wheelchair he's using right now is an older model and it could be months before they're able to get him a new custom chair.
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