Earl Green wants the person who took his motorized scooter for a joy ride to know the misery they've caused him.
“Somebody just wanted to ride around and have fun,” Green said Monday. “What they did to me was steal my independence. I can't walk 10 feet on my own.”
Green, 52, suffers from a severe breathing disorder, sometimes needs oxygen and isn't physically able to drive a car. He got his scooter 18 months ago and used it to drive to stores near his home at 14th and Binney Streets.
“I could start moving around again on my own,” he said. “I even took it down 16th Street to the Civic Auditorium for a (high school) graduation.”
Now he has to ask friends for rides to the grocery store, he said.
The Pride Victory XL Mobility Scooter, valued at $3,000, was safe in Green's fenced-in yard the morning of Oct. 13. That was the day Green called for an ambulance because he couldn't catch his breath.
When he returned home from the hospital five days later, the scooter was gone.
Green said he often drives the scooter up a ramp and into his house for safekeeping, but there was no time for that as he frantically dialed 911.
Soon after he got home from the hospital, Green noticed that the scooter was gone and called police. He then began hearing reports from friends about scooter sightings around the neighborhood.
The scooter has a top speed of 5.8 mph, but it certainly seemed to get around town.
“People would tell me they thought they saw someone with it down on 30th Street,” Green said. “Then I would hear it had been on Ames (Avenue) or down somewhere else. I didn't know what to think.”
The scooter eventually turned up at the Baker's Supermarket at 7312 N. 30th St., about four miles from Green's home. Store manager Michelle Trummer said a man who may have been riding it passed out on a nearby bus bench on Oct. 20 or Oct. 21. Paramedics were called, and the man was taken to a hospital.
“The paramedics asked if we would look out for the scooter, so we stored it inside,” Trummer said.
Eventually, a friend of Green's told him that he had seen the scooter at the grocery store, and police were dispatched to pick it up.
The scooter was returned to Green on Monday, but it's a far cry from the smooth-riding vehicle he remembers. It appears, he said, that the scooter has been wrecked more than once.
The ignition switch has been broken off and the steering column is wobbly. The frame has a large crack and there are numerous scrapes and scratches.
“I'll start calling around and see what can be done to fix it or get another one,” Green said. “Words cannot express how I feel about this whole thing. Someone had their fun, and it's costing me.”
Officer Jacob Bettin, a police spokesman, said that the scooter's theft is still under investigation and that possible charges include theft by receiving stolen property valued at more than $1,500. That charge would be a felony with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“I want whoever took (the scooter) to pay the highest penalty,” Green said. “Look at me, I'm stuck right here in my house now. They should be stuck in prison.”
Contact the writer:
444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com
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