By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With the help of community tips and Bowling Green Police Division, Eric Rine Jr. is again able to ride his handcycle.
Rine’s bike was stolen sometime Tuesday night from his family’s van parked in their driveway on Byall Street. The Bowling Green High School graduate, who is paraplegic, uses the specially made bicycle for exercise.
On Wednesday, Bowling Green Police Division posted videos of three males suspected of stealing Rine’s bike. The video, from the parking lot of the Circle K gas station downtown, showed one of the men riding the handcycle.
“We put out the information on Facebook,” Police Major Justin White said this afternoon. “With tips, it helped point us in the right direction.”
Police arrested Cameron Fox, 23, of Bowling Green, in the 1000 block of Third Street, where they retrieved Rine’s handcycle. Fox was charged with felony receiving stolen property and taken to the Wood County jail.
Police are still working on finding the other two males in the video.
“We had multiple tips from the community,” White said. “We were happy to get it back.”
“The guys were extra vigilant about this one. They were going to get this bike,” White said of the police investigation. “I’m proud of them.”
The Rine family is ecstatic that the bike is back.
“It’s back. Eric’s so happy,” said Stephanie Rine, Eric’s mom. “He rode home from the police station.”
Rine’s handcycle was valued at close to $3,500.
“Anything that’s adaptive equipment is expensive,” Stephanie Rine said after the bike was stolen.
“It’s really irreplaceable because they don’t make this type anymore,” she said. “It’s such a violation. It’s not just any old bike. It’s been a lifeline for him. He loves it.”
Rine, 20, was home from college at University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima where he is majoring in automotive technology, because his roommate had recently tested positive for COVID-19. His bike came home with him.
“It’s literally been his lifeline during COVID,” Stephanie Rine said.
Police came to the Rines’ back door this morning with the news that the bike had been found.
“He said, ‘Would you mind bringing your fan to the police station? We’ve got something for you,'” Stephanie said of Officer Jeremy Lauer.
While the police were returning the bike to Eric in front of the police station, motorists passing by showed their support.
“People were honking and yelling, ‘We’re so happy he got his bike back.’ People I don’t even know,” Stephanie Rine said.
A Go Fund Me page had been set up to replace the handcycle. The Rine family plans to give away any donated funds to someone else affected by spina bifida.
“So somebody else in Eric’s situation can have the freedom, and the joy, and the independence of having a handcycle,” Stephanie Rine said.
Rine said she has been asked how she would like the people punished who took her son’s bike. She responded that she would like them to apologize to Eric – and perhaps spend a day in a wheelchair, so they would have some idea of what it’s like to have something stolen that is so vital.
Police also found other possible stolen items when they arrested Fox. The same three males suspected for the handcycle theft are also believed to have broken into other vehicles overnight on Second Street and Troup Street.
Bowling Green Police Division posted photos of three males with the handcycle in the Circle K parking lot downtown. Those images can be seen at https://twitter.com/BGPD_OH.
