A disabled toddler’s wheelchair stroller was stolen outside of a Queens home on New Year’s Day, officials said.


What You Need To Know

  • Police say they received a 911 call of a grand larceny in South Ozone Park, Queens on New Year’s Day

  • Marta Escobar said AJ’s wheelchair stroller, along with his medication, diapers and three additional strollers, were allegedly stolen from their driveway

  • Escobar says without her son’s stroller, he can’t go to school or receive the therapy he needs

Before AJ and his twin sister, Alee, were born, Marta Escobar, their mother knew there would be complications.

But now, she’s facing another setback since her son’s personalized wheelchair was stolen on New Year’s Day.

“He can’t walk, he can’t talk, he can’t do anything for himself,” said Escobar, whose four-year-old son needs round-the-clock care. “Three days after he was born, they put a shunt in his head. A week before he was born, they put a tube in his belly because he couldn’t eat through his mouth. He lasted six weeks in the NICU.”

“I took out his wheelchair stroller, put it together along with another stroller and some diapers and I parked it where it usually goes on the side of the house and I left,” she continued.

Police say they received a call for a grand larceny in South Ozone Park.

Escobar said AJ’s wheelchair stroller, along with his medication, diapers and three additional strollers, were allegedly stolen from their driveway.

“They said that it’s going to be treated like a grand larceny case because just the stroller alone was worth over $3,000,” said Escobar.

Escobar’s home security camera wasn’t working that day, but luckily, her neighbor captured the entire incident on video.

“I was just in shock that people are feeling the entitlement to just walk into a private neighborhood and they see something that they feel is available to them and they just help themselves,” said Escobar.

The video shows three people walk toward Escobar’s driveway and pause. They can then be seen taking a stroller, boxes of diapers and the wheelchair stroller with them. Cameras then capture them wheeling it back the way they came toward Sutter Avenue.

“If they would’ve knocked on my door and asked me for one of those extra strollers, except for the wheelchair stroller, with all my heart I would’ve given it to them,” said Escobar.

Escobar says without her son’s stroller, he can’t go to school or receive the therapy he needs. She’s pleading with those responsible to give her back her property.

“Keep everything else. Just return the stroller and the medication,” said Escobar. “Please return it. That’s all I want. Just return it.”

The NYPD said no one is in custody and the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information can call the crime stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.