A 29-year-old London man is facing charges in connection with the theft of a little girl's wheelchair and an armed robbery at an east-end grocery store.
Nine-year-old Aaliyah Faulknor's pink wheelchair was stolen from the front porch of her home on Connaught Avenue early Tuesday morning. Video surveillance released by the family showed a man casually walk up and remove the item from the porch.
Faulknor has cerebral palsy and can only move very short distances without the help of the $7,000 wheelchair.
A day after its theft, the wheelchair was found heavily damaged. A GoFundMe campaign to get the little girl a replacement has already exceeded its goal with more than $10,000 donated.
London police made an arrest in the case while investigating an armed robbery at the Food Basics grocery store at 1299 Oxford Street East. A man had walked into the store and allegedly put several items inside of a backpack that was sitting on a pink wheelchair. He then paid for only one item and tried to leave the store. When an employee tried to stop him the man pulled out a large knife and an object resembling a pipe and hit the worker, police said.
A woman was also hit with the wheelchair as the man ran from the store.
Police were called and a man was arrested nearby. Several knives and the wheelchair were seized.
Andrew Miles Eadie, 29, of London is charged with armed robbery, possession of stolen property, assault with a weapon, and breach of probation. He is scheduled to appear in London court on Thursday.
