Police find family’s stolen van with daughter's custom wheelchair inside; wheelchair return to family
Yorktown Police Department Detective Dan Curtis spotted it Monday night in a residential parking lot on Lexington Avenue, with the wheelchair still inside.
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Yorktown police say they found a family's missing van with their daughter's custom wheelchair inside.
News 12 reported this weekend that the owner, Bon Finnegan, left the key fob inside the family's 2017 Toyota Sienna with the doors unlocked in the driveway.
MORE: Car containing daughter’s wheelchair stolen from Yorktown Heights family
Yorktown Police Department Detective Dan Curtis spotted the vehicle Monday night in a residential parking lot on Lexington Avenue, with 10-year-old daughter Mia’s custom-made wheelchair still inside.
Mia, who has cerebral palsy, needs the expensive wheelchair to get around.
Finnegan said Mia has a backup chair, but her newer chair is so valuable because it's specially fitted, transportable, and less bulky. This allows her to be able to play with other kids.
"The one thing you fear when you have a child with special needs is they're excluded," he says. "I'm just thrilled that they found it."
The family says so many people offered temporary solutions and replacements for other items in the car.
"It restores your faith in humanity a bit. It makes you feel there are a lot more good people out there than there are bad," says Finnigan.
The family says that the chair is now back where it should be.
Police say that when they found the van, they discovered items in there that didn't belong to the family. They say they are hanging onto the van for the time being to process it for evidence.
