Family Asks How Anyone Could Steal Son's Wheelchair
BECKER, Minn. (WCCO) -- It's hard to believe anyone could be so cold as to steal a child's wheelchair. But that's what a Becker family fears happened over the weekend.
"That's his only way of mobility," said Kristi Sauter, mother of 6-year-old Tyce.
Sauter fights back emotions when she thinks how something so vital could simply vanish.
Tyce was born premature at 29 weeks and his lightweight wheelchair is his lifeline to school and all other normal activities.
"He has been diagnosed with spastic quad cerebral palsy, so his diagnosis affects all areas of his limbs and his torso," Sauter said.
Her son's chair was in the box of his father's pickup truck when they were parked in downtown Albany for a comedy show on Saturday night.
But when the boy's father got home to Sauk Center later that evening, the wheelchair was gone.
"I instantly broke into tears -- just, how someone could do that and take his only mode of transportation," Sauter said.
Albany police took the theft report and carefully reviewed security camera videos in the area. However, they could find no evidence of a theft in and around the pickup truck.
That leads them to believe it may have been stolen somewhere else, or possibly fell out of the truck as Tyce's father drove home to Sauk Center. But what's concerning is that if it did fall out on the roadway, nobody has found it and turned it in.
The $12,000 aluminum chair was custom upholstered to fit the 6-year-old's body.
"I talked with Gillette this morning and they said if someone was to try and scrap his wheelchair they'd get about $4 for it," Sauter said.
To Tyce, his chair is priceless. Mom Kristi doesn't care how it went missing -- her son's mobility is all that matters.
"We just want the wheelchair back, don't we buddy? Yeah," Sauter said.
For more information on the wheelchair description or to help the family, click here.
