An SUV containing a custom-made wheelchair used by a four-year-old boy was stolen and then set on fire.
Meghan Gardecki says the Cadillac Escalade was stolen shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, as she left it parked outside Brantford’s Lynden Park Mall for about 15 minutes.
Of bigger concern to her was the loss of the $8,000 customized wheelchair inside the SUV.
She says the wheelchair is “vital” for her son Isaiah’s day-to-day life, with modifications designed to give him “full support” and hold items like a feeding tube and drainage bag.
When Isaiah isn’t in the wheelchair, he has to be held by a parent or caregiver.
“He’s very similar to a (child with a) severe cerebral palsy-type diagnosis,” she said.
“He is not verbal. He doesn’t eat anything by mouth. He doesn’t sit independently. He doesn’t crawl. He doesn’t walk. He’s totally dependent on us and the wheelchair.”
At first, Gardecki was hopeful that the wheelchair would turn up. It was in two pieces inside the vehicle, she reasoned, so whoever stole the vehicle may not have realized what it was.
That changed Wednesday morning, when police contacted Gardecki to tell her that the vehicle had been found in Six Nations, having been set on fire.
In fact, police had spotted the Escalade only half an hour after it was stolen.
Six Nations Police officers tried to pull it over, but the driver ignored them and continued on.
Another 30 minutes later, police say, and smoke was seen coming from a wooded area elsewhere on the reserve.
Locating the smoke, they came across the SUV.
“The vehicle was … completely destroyed by fire,” said Const. Natalie Laing of Brantford Police.
Everything inside – including the wheelchair, a purse, medical supplies and an oxygen tank – was also wrecked.
Escalades are commonly stolen to be stripped for parts – and while it’s not clear if that’s what happened in this case, Laing says the short timeframe during which it was nabbed means it could well have been a targeted theft.
“It definitely suggests that the suspects were in the area, (looking for) a specific type of vehicle,” she said.
Gardecki says the cost of a replacement wheelchair is less of a concern than the months it will take for the replacement to be built and delivered.
Until then, the family will try to fix up and make do with an old, broken wheelchair.
One online fundraiser has already been set up for the family.
