Athletic wheelchair, vehicle returned to hoops player aiming for Paralympics
Dalten Campbell said a basketball workout Tuesday would produce the sweetest sweat he’s shed.
Hours before, he received a call from police that his stolen, modified 2006 Dodge Magnum R/T and a specialized basketball wheelchair contained in it had been found in a Crescent Heights church parking lot.
The church’s pastor, said the ecstatic Campbell, recognized the silver sedan from media reports.
“It’s just amazing — I’m going to lock myself in the gym today,” said Campbell, 25.
“It’s a sign.”
Campbell is hoping the stroke of good fortune is a good omen for a national Paralympic basketball team tryout in Toronto late next month, something he said would have fallen flat without the $10,000 custom-made wheelchair.
“I’ll be able to go to camp and put my all into it, and not worry about my equipment,” he said.
Sometime last Friday night or Saturday morning, a thief accessed a secure parkade under Campbell’s Inglewood home and made off with his car and wheelchair.
The Calgarian, who was rendered a paraplegic in a 2012 construction accident, said it would have been too time-consuming and expensive to replace the chair to attend the Toronto event.
But the newly recovered wheelchair was unharmed and his car only slightly damaged.
“It doesn’t even look like they touched the chair but they did try to rip out my car stereo,” he said.
The car is equipped with a steering wheel-level lever to control the brakes and gas pedal.
No arrests have been made in the theft but Campbell said he’s been told police are continuing to investigate, aided by surveillance camera footage from his apartment building.
Campbell said he’s been training for three years in hopes of making the country’s national team.