Nine-year-old Eva Walker described herself as being “screaming happy” when Sgt. Rick Wagner, of the Cambridge Police Department, surprised her with a new bike. Wagner’s delivery of the bike to Eva came about after he had been called to the family’s home in late June to take a report on her bike being stolen through the night.
According to Wagner, he was called to the residence when Eva’s mom, Laura, had called after reviewing surveillance footage and seeing someone take the bike. Wagner recognized the person on the surveillance video and said he was able to identity who took the bike and that charges would be filed.
“For me, I usually know how bike thefts go. It’s a slim to none chance that you are going to get the bike back in the condition that it was when she had it and I kind of figured that if I did get the bike back it could of been destroyed or spray painted or whatever,” Wagner said. “I kind of had a feeling that’s the way the bike’s going to be and the parents would of had to been responsible for getting a new bike, regardless.”
Wagner had been on another call to Walmart later that day. After finishing up the call, he spoke with Walmart’s loss prevention officer, Jennifer Whitehair, and told her the story of Eva’s bike getting stolen and asked her if she had any bikes in stock.
“We went back and looked and there happened to be a bike similar to the one she had and they talked to the manager and they were willing to donate the bike,” Wagner said. Robert Geiger, assistant manager for Walmart, confirmed that after hearing that this was the second bike that had been stolen from Eva, the store decided to donate the bike.
According to Laura, last Easter, the family’s first set of bikes were stolen. The police were able to locate the suspect, who ended up going to jail for the theft. The bikes were never recovered.
Wagner had been on another call to Walmart later that day. After finishing up the call, he spoke with Walmart’s loss prevention officer, Jennifer Whitehair, and told her the story of Eva’s bike getting stolen and asked her if she had any bikes in stock. “We went back and looked and there happened to be a bike similar to the one she had and they talked to the manager and they were willing to donate the bike,” Wagner said.
Robert Geiger, assistant manager for Walmart, confirmed that after hearing that this was the second bike that had been stolen from Eva, the store decided to donate the bike. Robert Geiger, assistant manager for Walmart, confirmed that after hearing that this was the second bike that had been stolen from Eva, the store decided to donate the bike… The Daily Jeffersonian
