We have covered all sorts of awful acts that people unfortunately engage in in the pursuit of sneakers but this story takes it to a new low.
A porch pirate in the Bronx stole two pairs of shoes that were meant for a special needs child in the hopes of using him to take his first independent steps.
The Thursday afternoon robbery occurred at the home of young Amari George and his parents. A doorbell camera at the domicile captured the theft. The footage shows the thief , clad in a “wife beater” and blue jeans, strolling up the steps of the residence picking up the box, shaking it before heading back to a waiting vehicle. He takes a short pause to urinate before driving off with the kicks.
Tisha Murray-George, Amari’s mother, had taken him to a therapy session in Long Island when the theft occurred, was very angry about the incident and had this to say:
“I was angry, very angry. I did cry, because I just don’t understand how, even if you didn’t see they were special shoes, you could steal the shoes from a toddler…We’ve been taking him to intense physical therapy and he’s very close to waking independently,” Murray-George explained. “Maybe two weeks. He’s making progress. This would have been his first day of trying them out.”
Amari is stricken with a neurological disorder that hinders his ability to walk but his mother says that Amari can walk a little , with the aid of a posterior walker but the sneakers, in conjunction with high ankle inserts, would let him move around independently.
The sneakers came recommended from an online parent support group that have children with the same ailment Amari. Target, from where the shoes were purchased, agreed to replace them free of charge.
