UPDATE: The wheelchair was returned to its owner late Friday night. Below is the original story:
Arlington police need the public's help to solve a heart-breaking crime. Earlier this week, someone stole a very expensive wheelchair that belongs to a teen with disabilities.
There are a lot of things that Eduardo Morales could be angry or sad about. He has a physical disability requires him to use a wheelchair and unable to speak. But instead, the 17-year-old who loves cowboys and rodeos chooses to be happy.
"Oh, my goodness, he is very special," said his mother, Norma Morales. "He is very special to everybody – his school, home, family, everything."
That's why it's hard for her to understand how anyone could take from him.
"Oh, I cried," Norma Morales said. "I cried because [his wheelchair] is like his two legs. He doesn't have a wheelchair now."
Monday afternoon, they took off from their home on Redding Court in South Arlington to go run errands and decided to leave Eduardo's wheelchair near their driveway. That way, his mother said, she could put him right back in it when they got home.
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"We left it out for a couple of hours, never thinking that someone was going to take it," she said. "And when we came home, it was gone."
Eduardo is now using two loaner chairs. He uses one that belongs to his school, Mansfield Summit High School, during class. He uses the other one, that his teacher's church let him borrow, while he is at home.
"He really knows he doesn't have his chair," said Norma Morales. "He really knows because he cannot get around. He cannot get around the house."
Arlington police released several surveillance photos connected to this case Friday that were taken from a neighbor's surveillance camera. They say the camera was not positioned where it would have caught the theft, but it has provided other clues.
One image shows a red, 1990's model GMC Sonoma pickup hauling a trailer with wooden sides.
Investigators say it was the only vehicle that pulled into and out of Redding Court while the Morales family was gone, and they're very interested in speaking with the driver.
"We call them scrappers," said Arlington police Sgt. Kreyton Paschall. "They're people a lot of citizens have seen driving around in neighborhoods. They look for discarded items."
Paschall said he would have a hard time buying that someone mistook the wheelchair for trash. It was in good, working condition, and Eduardo's backpack – full of items – was sitting on it.
"What we like to say is there is sometimes an honor among thieves," said Paschall. "In this instance there wasn't."
Police also released a second surveillance photo showing a red Hyundai Azera, which was in the neighborhood at approximately the same time as the truck. They want to find out if the driver witnessed the theft.
Norma Morales is asking the public to help police identify the two vehicles.
"Just return it, please – that's it," she said. "We just really want it back."
The wheelchair is custom-made for Eduardo's body. His name is stitched in lime green letters across the back, and it has lime green legs.
