WATCH: The family of a severely autistic 14-year old boy made a desperate plea for the return of his bike, which was stolen while he was riding it in a Vancouver park. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan stepped in. Jeremy Hunka and Anne Drewa report.
VANCOUVER – Fourteen-year-old Tyriq Gordon spent some time at the park on Friday, but it’s not where he wanted to be.
Tyriq has autism, along with Tourette Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder.
He is also mostly non-verbal.
Normally he would be riding his red bike, his most precious possession, but on Wednesday afternoon he was riding near Pandora Park at Nanaimo and Hastings when someone confronted him and stole his bike and his helmet.
Tyriq had no way to defend himself, and there were no witnesses.
Tyriq’s mother spoke to Global News on Friday, begging the culprit to return the bike.
“He lights up, he’s happy,” said Stephanie Phillips. “He comes home from school and the first thing he says is ‘park, mom, park, bike park.'”
“I want that person to bring my son’s bike back. Just bring it back. You took away his joy.”
“That’s his fun, that’s his joy, that’s his happiness. Please bring it back.”
A Good Samaritan, who saw the story on the News Hour, headed straight down to Canadian Tire to buy Tairq a new buy and a helmet.
“I just came home and I saw the news story at what happened to him, and I just can’t believe some of the people in this world,” said Vancouver resident Dennis Wong.
“Anything to give him a little joy at the end of the day.”
Stephanie said she is happy and thankful for what Dennis has done. “I really want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support,” she said. “It’s good to know there are honest, loving people there.”
“I want to ask the people who donated, who want to donate the bike to Tyriq, to give the money to the Autism Society or Kids Up Front so that another child like my son can enjoy something like this,” she added.
Anyone who has any information about the theft is asked to call Vancouver Police or Crime Stoppers.
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