Brooklyn Woman Receives New Wheelchair After Theft
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A Brooklyn woman can now breathe a sigh of relief thanks to a generous gift from a local businessman.
CBS2's Dave Carlin was in Sheepshead Bay when Margaret Leon, 36, received a motorized wheelchair to temporarily replace the one that was stolen last week. She had been stuck at home since Saturday.
The crime was caught on nearby surveillance cameras. According to police, a man discovered her unoccupied wheelchair near 86th and West 12th streets outside her workplace in Gravesend around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Surveillance images from a nearby camera show the suspect walking up to the front of a real estate office on 86th Street. Another camera show him standing next to the wheelchair, valued at around $3,000.
Police say he then hopped on the scooter and fled down the street.
Margaret can finally laugh after a difficult week.
Despite the wheelchair being left handed and Margaret being right handed, she considers the temporary gift a godsend. The good Samaritan who made this arrangement happen did not wish to appear on camera for this story.
Margaret wants to let the suspect who was caught on camera stealing her wheelchair know that he did not win in the end.
"I just want to show him even though he committed a bad crime to me, good things happened because of that," she said.
Margaret says that her insurance will likely give her a brand new, and right handed, wheelchair early next year.