Robbers Take Handicapped Man’s Wheels To Wheelchair

ST. LOUIS  — Cops are searching for two men who robbed a handicapped man of his SUV — and the wheels off of his wheelchair.

Christopher McClendon was driving when he had to pull-over to check a weird noise coming from his vehicle, that’s when two men approached. One brandished a gun through the driver’s side window of his specially equipped SUV.

McClendon told the crooks he was paralyzed and begged them to let him keep his wheelchair.

“I begged repeatedly for my wheelchair,” McClendon said. “I was bawling and crying and asking them to give me my wheels.”

The bad guys dumped his wheelchair but removed and drove off with the detachable rear wheels, fearing McClendon may pursue them.

McClendon, 25, became a paraplegic after being struck by a drunk driver as he and his mother were walking to church on Christmas Eve in 1994.

“I was really in fear of my life,” McClendon said.

McClendon was discovered by Two St. Louis police officers who carried him into their squad car. Police recovered the vehicle Thursday evening.

McClendon received a temporary replacement wheelchair from a medical supplies vendor.