Webster Police Call Missing Wheelchair Suspicious, Owner Calls It Stolen
WEBSTER (CBS) - Webster police are investigating a stolen wheelchair that they say was taken from a home on Wednesday. "I tried to stand up. I walk around a little bit. That's all I can do," Elena Munoz said.
It's been over 24 hours that Elena Munoz has been without her wheelchair.
Police have posted pictures from her neighbor's surveillance camera. The images show a van that seems to be a medical van outside of Elena's home.
"A van that I've never taken for transportation. I've been in a wheelchair for 18 years. I have had 27 operations. I know when I need to be picked up," Munoz said.
She says her neighbors documented the van being outside her home for more than 40 minutes. It shows two people who were able to get inside her home, place a ramp over her stairs and take the $16,000 motorized wheelchair.
"When I went to get the wheelchair out of the front inside my house that is usually locked .... the front door... someone had apparently stolen the wheelchair," she said.
Webster Police are investigating the incident and consider it suspicious.
Elena says no one else in her building is disabled.
In the Facebook post by Webster police it says it is possible someone inadvertently took the wheelchair. Elena doesn't believe that for a second she says this had to have been deliberate.
"They straight up stole my wheelchair. There is no inadvertently or mistakenly. No you take the patient with the wheelchair. There's no way they were mistaken with that," she said.
On Thursday she had several appointments that she wouldn't have been able to make without the help of her boyfriend.
"I can't be stuck in the house. That's what I am -- stuck in the house. Without that wheelchair I can't get around," she said. "The insurance company says they will pay for it, but that's not the point. We need the people who took this wheelchair."
If you recognize the logo or look of this van, call Officer Jacek Ochocki at 508-943-1212.
