I've lost all faith in humanity

My wife's brother is a double amputee, from birth. He gets around on a skateboard, always has, he preferrs it. In May we helped to raise money to buy him a $3500 competition wheelchair, you know the fancy hella camber olympic chairs, to play wheelchair basketball and rugby. He's got a few scholarship offers and hopes to start training for some paraolympic(or similar) events. Anyway just found out some ass hat stole it out of his truck today in Houston. Freaking piece of shit thieves stole somebody's wheelchair.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psf8d06825.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps08b2cae2.jpg

Anyway I just had to vent. We took him to get measured and pick the thing up here in Dallas in May and I spent that week drooling all over the gorgeous machine work and engineering of the thing. It just irks me to no end to know it's probably sawzalled into 10 pieces by now and sold as scrap for a couple of crack rocks. ::Rant::::Rant::::Rant::::Rant::::Rant::::Rant:::: Rant::::Rant::

Anyone in Houston see any shiny aluminum scrap pieces let me know.

That sucks jigger, people like that deserve to burn in hell.

Thant sucks man, looks like a pretty sweet rig

Man, that does suck! Sorry dude. Don't lose faith - maybe we can help. I'd gladly pitch in to help buy a new one. Maybe a few others will too.

If you will accept a donation, send me a PM.

Homeowners insurance covers such thefts, if comprehensive won't. Sorry to hear it.

Thieves suck, my wife had her billfold and cell phone stolen last Saturday.

I'm with Mark. I am willing to help fund a replacement. Setup one of those donation sites.

They stole a wheelchair? Wow. That's pretty damn low. Jeez...

Truly stinks. I'm in for some help if insurance isn't going to cover it. How long will it take to build another?

Good ideas on the donation site. I'll kick in.

In as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onething

Truly stinks. I'm in for some help if insurance isn't going to cover it. How long will it take to build another?

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I think it will take about 3 weeks or so start to finish.

Wow guys, i'm truly impressed. We don't have anything set up yet. I need to talk with my wife and Zach to come up with something, see where they are at with insurance and what not. I will let you guys know.

This is the guy, Zach, he's made the news a few times. Pretty inspiring story.

http://www.redlasso.com/uncategorize...sonal-trainer/

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...nt-3397138.php

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/...hier_path.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFbyoX9JkuA

Go to the press with this story.

In for a donation to help too.

+1... I'd be happy to chip in as well.

Thanks again guys.

We've got a paypal link set up. This goes directly to him so I don't have to be a middle man and everything's anonymous.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...=SCECFFKMJT9YS

His insurance doesn't cover it. I believe they are contacting the news today or they may already have.

His wheelchair basketball team is heading to Nationals at the end of August so we hope to get him a new one by then...if the damn thing isn't stolen again.


Any info or updates i'll post in here when I get them.

Here's a link to the wheelchair company. They're in Grand Prairie. Fascinating work.
http://per4max.com/

Link to his chair, the one he will be buying again.
http://per4max.com/sport-chairs/thunder/

http://per4max.com/sport-chairs/thun...ne-order-form/

Base price = $2489. Built to his specs it is $3500.

Wow, that's the price of a good Miata.

Sucks to hear this. It ll all work out. People can suck.

*******UPDADE: Recovered*******

Not sure all the details but the news story ran tonight. Apparently one of the scrap metal guys 'says' that he was making his rounds and found it dumped in a trash heap somewhere. We're skeptical but he delivered it personally and refused the reward that we were raising. Apparently it is still in perfect shape.

Anyone who may have made a donation please PM me and we'll work out getting your cash back. I really appreciate everyone's generosity. I owe yall a round of beers if I ever make it out to a meet.


Edit: Link to story that ran tonight.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=9165965

edit2: link to recovery story.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/Thief...214673741.html
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=9166284

Looks like it wasn't scrap guys who brought it back but a random couple found it in a ditch. I'm guessing the thief got scared after seeing the story and tossed it.

Faith in humanity partially restored...partially.

Yea Happy Ending!!

He needs to figure out a way to secure that sucker in the back of the truck for the future.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

Yea Happy Ending!!

He needs to figure out a way to secure that sucker in the back of the truck for the future.

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They sell docking devices for wheel chairs. This is primarily for folks who need to secure it while riding in a moving vehicle but I wonder if he could use it in the bed of his truck. The docking devices likely don't have a key lock but probably just a release lever. Still, there may be something out there. Alternatively a simple bike lock but those are easily defeated.

Awesome! I'm happy to hear it was recovered!

:clap::clap::clap::clap:

So Jiggerachi, is your faith restored??

Doubt it... Recall some doucher stole a WHEEL CHAIR!

When faith in humanity falters, we have failed, because even when we lose faith, humanity continues to exist, only, we have chosen to cease believing.

Thats really cool. Lots of good and bad in life. Glad good won this time.

Josh is right. If after reading this thread you can still say there is no hope for humanity, then we are nothing more than a virus on this planet destined to destroy it's host.

Yep. There is good and bad. I have faith in some, and not so much for the rest, haha. Again we truly appreciate everyone's kindness here. Yall really stepped up to help out and i'm very impressed. If there's a JJ or Kellers meet that I can make it out to in the near future, beer's are on me. I really appreciate it guys.

We made sure any donations were refunded since it was returned in one piece. If anyone had a donation that was not refunded please let me know and we'll take care of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by black roadster

They sell docking devices for wheel chairs. This is primarily for folks who need to secure it while riding in a moving vehicle but I wonder if he could use it in the bed of his truck. The docking devices likely don't have a key lock but probably just a release lever. Still, there may be something out there. Alternatively a simple bike lock but those are easily defeated.

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I'm definitely going to look into something like this. True it would only slow them down, but that's kinda the point for all security devices. There's got to be a way to lock it down somehow. Really wish he had an SUV or something, but he can only drive his truck since it's outfitted with hand controls. Any ideas here would be appreciated, and we'll start doing our own research.

I'm thinking big ass chain to the eye bolts. Whoever lifted this chair was just a smash & grab type, it is very light. I'm sure anything would go a long way toward thwarting those types.