Thieves steal wheelchair ramps from New Carlisle family

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A New Carlisle mother said she can’t believe what she called the heartless crime that has left her 17-year-old son essentially trapped in their home.

Someone stole two, large metal wheelchair ramps from the driveway of Nancy Byington’s Rawson Drive home earlier this week.

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“You’re not going to gain much by taking things from others, especially if they’re handicapped,” Byington said.

She has filed a report with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and said she hopes the people behind the crime are discovered and held responsible.

Byington’s 17-year-old son has muscular dystrophy and uses a power wheelchair. Without the ramps, he can’t get out of their home, she said.

“It’s one thing if it’s an adult that’s taken from, but for the simple fact that it’s someone that’s in a wheelchair that can’t fend for themselves,” Byington said.

Together the two, aluminum ramps probably cost more than $2,000, the mother said.

The family left the two ramps propped outside of her kitchen door to the home and they had never been bothered before.

“We kept them out there so we wouldn’t have to keep dragging them out of the house,” Byington said.

The ramps were also portable, she said, and they would often take them if they went someplace.

Crime in New Carlisle isn’t a new concept,Byington said. She knows many others in her neighborhood and the rest of town have been victimized.

“It’s just getting too common with the drugs and everything that’s involved,” she said.

Byington has called several scrap metal yards, thinking the thieves might have taken them there for money, but hasn’t found them.

Someone in New Carlisle has probably heard rumors about who took the ramps, the mother said.

“Flush them out, maybe someone will tell on them, maybe someone knows something,” she said.

If anyone has information about the theft they can call the Clark County Sheriff’s Office at 937-328-2560.

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