CANTON ‒ The collective actions of an alert passerby, city employees and a concerned father led to the return of a 5-year-old’s stolen wheelchair.
Peter Clark told city police on Tuesday morning that his son Zion’s specialized wheelchair was taken from the entryway of their apartment complex.
It had last been seen around 3 p.m. Monday. Clark said it was always left near the doorway due to its size, and the inconvenience of taking the heavy chair into the family’s apartment. They live at Victory Square, 1223 Eighth St. NE.
The chair, worth $3,000 to $5,000, is specifically outfitted for Zion’s spina bifida diagnosis.
Clark told police that a woman had noticed a wheelchair nearby in the 1500 block of Lippert Road NE and called the street department to tell them. Other tenants told him the street department had come out and picked up the chair.
The father of three subsequently retrieved the wheelchair from the street department.
Clark said Zion was able to attend classes at Patrick Elementary School on Tuesday with a replacement wheelchair.