Police: 'Despicable' Thieves Steal Wheelchair From Teen With Cerebral Palsy

LEONIA, N.J. (CBSNewYork)-- Police are looking for the heartless thieves who stole an expensive custom wheelchair from a local teenager.

The low-speed getaway was caught on camera. The motorized custom wheelchair belongs to a 14-year-old cerebral palsy patient identified to the media only as "Courtney." The video shows a thief driving it out onto the sidewalk on Broad Avenue in Leonia heading south toward Palisades Park, CBS2's Lou Young reported.

The crime has the full attention of the town's tiny police department.

"In New Jersey we classify this as a third-degree theft and I think it's a category all unto itself. I put this in a category called despicable crimes," Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe said.

The teen and his mom live in a walk-up and the motorized wheelchair doesn't fit inside. The mother didn't want to talk and the teen is unable to. They park it and transfer him to a conventional wheelchair figuring it's safe 15 yards from the street and sidewalk.

"Terrible. It breaks my heart," one local said.

The building's own security cameras caught the apparent thieves hanging around outside the vestibule door, individually casing the place to make sure the mother and son had gone upstairs. One of them eventually makes the move at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

"How do you come by a place and see a wheelchair knowing full well that this is somebody's way of getting around-- entering the world?" neighbor Peter Colletto said.

"It's worth about $12,000 at this point, I don't know if it's insured," Chief Rowe said.

When CBS2's Young suggested that Rowe had steam coming out of his ears, Rowe said: "Lou, I have fire coming out of my eyes and my nose right now. I can't tell you how upset and angry I am."

A friend of the family said Courtney is now essentially stuck at home, but he and his mother are in good spirits.

"One of the things that the mom said to me is, 'They don't have my son, they have his wheelchair,' which is really beautiful," Lisandra Delgado said.

The PBA is offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the wheelchair and arrests of the thieves. A fundraising effort is underway for the purchase of a new chair, which could take four months to construct and deliver.