Delaware

Walker Stolen from Girl With Cerebral Palsy

"One of the things that I love doing is walking so I am very, very upset," Kirsten Edwards said

The theft of a walker from a young girl who suffers from cerebral palsy left her and her mother upset and, even after an arrest, they are without the critical piece of medical equipment.

"One of the things that I love doing is walking so I am very, very upset," Kirsten Edwards said.

Edwards, 10, of Wilmington, Delaware, recently spent months in the hospital after having her hamstrings lengthened and a bone removed from her foot. Her walker was the only way she was able to get around on her feet.

On Nov. 30, Edwards' mother Brittany Murray placed her inside a car outside their home and drove away. After driving for 20 minutes, Murray realized she had left her daughter's walker in the front yard. She then called her husband who was still at their home. When her husband looked outside the walker was gone.

"It's not like it was sitting on the edge of the street corner, it was sitting on our property close by our front door," Murray said. "So you felt comfortable enough to come up to somebody's property and take it."

With the walker gone, Edwards was forced to use a wheelchair.

"Someone might look at her and say she's in a wheelchair, so she's able to get around but no, the surgery that she just had in July, she technically has to have that walker so that she can stretch her legs out so that it doesn't reverse the process of the surgery she had," Murray said.

Murray told NBC10 the family will need to come up with $1,500 to get a new walker. For now, they're using another walker loaned to them by their neighbor Wade Stabley.

"It made me upset that someone would have the audacity to take and steal a child's walker that she needs to be able to get around," Stabley said.

Stabley also said his home surveillance video captured a man who took the walker and placed it into a vehicle, described as a silver and white Chevrolet truck, before driving away. 

On Tuesday morning, New Castle County Police told NBC10's Tim Furlong that they had arrested two men, including one person seen in the video.

Both suspects were arraigned on felony theft and conspiracy and released on bail, police said. 

Police said they believed the walker was crushed and scrapped.

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