Multiple sclerosis makes it tough for Eric Brand to walk. His scooter served as legs until it was stolen recently.
"I am stuck in my house," Brand said. "The people who took the scooter, how callous, why, why, why?"
The retired defense attorney can't drive. His wife passed away in July. Brand and his dog Frank rely on the scooter for daily independence.
“It’s so frustrating to me someone would take a scooter. It’s very obvious it belongs to a disabled person. I just put my heart and soul into it. I just bought a new battery for it,” Brand said.
On Wednesday, Brand visited his friend Carolyn Bumer.
“We heard a commotion,” Bumer said. When they looked, the scooter was gone.
“It just makes me sick, physically ill, that anybody could do that,” Bumer said. “He just stopped driving, so that’s his only mode of transportation, he’s sutuck in his house now, it’s just sickening.”
Bumer saw the thieves, but didn’t get a good description.
“When someone so vulnerable gets something so necessary taken away, it’s just not fair, it’s not right,” said Bumer. “Bring it back, give it back, he needs it.”
“Brand is so desperate, he said he’s willing to buy his own scooter back from the thieves.
“I’m not saying I’m rich, but that is my life blood,” Brand said.
Brand called police to report the stolen scooter. The scooter with its special battery is worth around $5,000.
Bumer and Brand said they saw a group of three to four people in their 20s take off with the scooter. If you have any information about this incident, please call police.
