Police Find Westchester Family’s Stolen Van, Medical Equipment

Recently a Westchester County family found themselves victims to vehicular theft. It's something that potentially can happen to anyone, however, this theft hit the family a bit harder than others. Getting your car or in this case, van stolen is going to make for a bad day no matter who you are, but in this family's case, it was what was in the van that made this theft more troubling.

Yorktown Police Find Families Stolen Van

In a report from News 12, the owner of the family van, Bon Finnegan had reported the vehicle a 2017 Toyota Sienna missing this past weekend. Mr. Finnegan made a simple mistake that anyone can make, he left the van unlocked in the driveway with the key fob inside.

This leads us to this past Monday where Yorktown Police Department Detective Dan Curtis managed to track down the family's vehicle. At the time, Detective Curtis found the van located in a residential parking lot  Detective Curtis was able to identify the van because of a very particular item that was located in the van itself. That item was a custom-made wheelchair for Mr. Finnegan's daughter.

The Reason Behind the Custom-Made Wheelchair

The wheelchair that was in the van is an integral piece of equipment to aid Mr. Finnegan's 10-year-old daughter Mia. Mia has cerebral palsy which for those that don't know is...

a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture...

Cerebral palsy is causes 'abnormal brain development' and is also the most common disability found in children. The CDC further defines cerebral palsy by stating that...

people with CP have problems with movement and posture. Many also have related conditions such as intellectual disability; seizures; problems with vision, hearing, or speech; changes in the spine (such as scoliosis); or joint problems.

The custom wheelchair itself was described by Mr. FInnegan as not only being valuable but that it was literally made for his daughter as in it was custom fitted. In addition, the wheelchair was also made to allow for easy transportation. The most important thing however is that this wheelchair allows for Mr. Finnegan's daughter to interact with other kids.

The Kindness of Strangers

For Mr. FInnegan the most important part of this whole ordeal is that police found and returned his daughter's wheelchair. Though they did have a backup wheelchair on hand, it wasn't the same as the custom build.

Mr. Finnegan did reflect on one thing though. He stated that a large number of people had reached out in an effort to help him and his daughter during the ordeal. In his own words, Mr. Finnegan said that the outreach from so many people "restores your faith in humanity a bit. It makes you feel there are a lot more good people out there than there are bad".

The investigation into who it was that stole the van in the first place is still under investigation and because of that police are still in possession of the vehicle itself for evidence purposes. All of that pales in comparison to anything else as the Finnegans are just happy that Mia has her chair back and that is right where it belongs.