Wheelchair of gravely wounded Iraq vet stolen from his home

posted at 6:18 pm on January 20, 2012 by Howard Portnoy

It takes a unique brand of cretin to steal a wheelchair, but what sort of unfeeling beast would boost one that is decorated with an image of a purple heart and military stickers?

Even the most addle-pated thief should be able to reason that the conveyance might belong to a wounded war veteran. In the case of the wheelchair taken from outside a Long Island home this week, it did.

Retired Corporal Christopher Levi, lost both legs when his five-car convoy was bombed in Baghdad in 2008. Now the heroic vet has lost his wheelchair as well. The former Army Ranger went to do errands in his handicapped accessible vehicle on Thursday, leaving the wheelchair in the yard of his home. When he returned around 5:45 p.m., it was gone.

The VA provided him with a loaner, but understandably he wants his own chair returned.

The corporal told reporters that he considers the theft to be “despicable, malicious, immature.” I can think of plenty of more fitting adjectives to characterize the crime, but this is a family publication.

The crime marks the second theft of a wheelchair in the space of two months’ time. Shortly after Thanksgiving a wheelchair belonging to a disabled Philadelphia child was stolen from the back of the family’s van, which was parked outside the home. That wheelchair was never recovered but a collection initiated by a local Philly TV station resulted in a replacement chair within days of the reported theft.

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IMO, there is a ‘special place’ set aside for people that would do this. God bless and thank you Sir for your service.

If I had a wish for winning a lottery, I would give all I got to our men and women who have served our Republic for their needs hearing stories like this. My heart aches I can’t do anything to help.
L

letget on January 20, 2012 at 6:41 PM

All anyone has to do is say the word, point at the bank, paypal, or other account, and Corporal Levi will have his new wheelchair….probably in less than a day. So who’s going to start it?

chotii on January 20, 2012 at 7:07 PM

chotii on January 20, 2012 at 7:07 PM

I’d join you in a heartbeat, but it kinda misses the Corporal’s desire to have his wheelchair back – decorated as it was.

Like Howard, I can’t come up with adequate adjectives to characterize this criminal that could be printed on this site and it’s not due to a limited vocabulary – it’s the anger!

Jack

Jack Slade on January 20, 2012 at 7:20 PM

have you ever had your house or car broken into? if there’s no one around and no confrontation, no one cares certainly not the police. the courts treat burglary as some sort of cheerful, youthful mishap even though now with DNA we’re finding that many serial rapists (who have never been caught, never charged with rape previously) come up having crazy lengthy records for house burglary and theft.

burglary is a violent crime but the courts treat it like a harmless lark- and this sort of theft is truly the sign of the inhumane consciousness feral career criminal the liberal courts in this country churn out endlessly on to the streets. this makes sense in that the marxists and black panther/weather underground drones like say the head of the DOJ have no respect for you or your property or frankly your life. surely there is some victim of the amerikkan police state, some hapless oppressed ex con political prisoner of the man, who deserves that wheelchair more than a regime supporting soldier. it’s been redistributed by the people.

mittens on January 20, 2012 at 7:30 PM

the chairs need serial numbers, and the service industry to check those numbers when doing service against a “hot list”.
Back in 90 or so a paintball gun manufacturer started that with the then popular “Automag” series. No service if the serial number was not present. Stolen “markers” could be reported to the company with a police report number and if the stolen “marker” surfaced later Airgun Designs reported them to the police.
High theft cars have to have VIN numbers on crash parts, and some states require those numbers on auto body repair orders (and don’t allow used parts with missing numbers to be installed).

jhnone on January 20, 2012 at 7:38 PM

I wrote to the man whose byline was on the article at the New York Daily News, and here is his reply:

Thanks for the note.

Because insurance will cover the cost of the wheelchair (Christopher is more upset that he lost the Purple Heart emblem that was embroidered on the back), the family asks for anyone concerned to make a donation to the Building Homes for Heroes group. (buildinghomesforheroes.org).

Thanks again for reading.

So, there’s that.

chotii on January 20, 2012 at 7:42 PM