VANCOUVER – A thief made off with a disabled man’s $20,000 prosthetic leg during a break-in on Monday night.
Vancouver police say the 46-year-old Squamish man left the expensive device in a duffel bag inside his 2002 red Dodge Caravan when he parked in the 1600-block East 8th Avenue near Commercial Drive.
The visitor to the city came back to his van about an hour later and found that the driver’s-side window had been pried down and the door unlocked.
"To his dismay, the man found that his prosthetic left leg had been stolen," said VPD spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton.
Stolen was a black Mountain Equipment Co-op duffel bag. Inside was the prosthetic, with a pink-flesh-coloured foot, a silver clamp above the ankle and a two-inch-long aluminum rod powder-coated in a blue finish. The rod is connected to the ankle and a silver knee joint with a pink-flesh-coloured "thigh" at the top, which ends in a leather-and-canvas strap.
Not only does the leg cost an estimated $20,000, but it "takes over a month and many doctors’ visits to replace," and the victim’s mobility is compromised in the meantime.
Anyone with information or who knows of the whereabouts of the leg is asked to call Vancouver police at 604-717-3321 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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