'Hero cop' helps find Twin Cities mom's stolen Hyundai, but disabled son's wheelchair still MIA

A single mother of four is thanking a "hero cop" who swooped in from the east side of the Twin Cities and helped find her SUV that was stolen outside a Minneapolis grocery store with her disabled son's specialized wheelchair in the trunk.

Now Tamika Williams is turning her attention to finding the wheelchair that she and 18-year-old Samajae Adail have counted on for many years.

"This hero cop from St. Paul called me the next day and said, 'I'm doing what I can to find your car,' " said Williams, who lives in Richfield and works in her hometown school district as a paraprofessional.

Ramsey County sheriff's deputy Matt Marson, who first got wind of the missing SUV from a television report, told her that he and others he works with acted on an electronic "ping" from the SUV on Aug. 1 and found it abandoned in north Minneapolis. No arrests have been announced.

To Williams' dismay, though, the undrivable SUV needs repairs to the window and the vandalized ignition, and "the car seat and the wheelchair are still on the loose," she said. "They probably just threw the [wheelchair] away in pieces who knows where."

Williams' son has cerebral palsy and counts on the specially fitted to chair to live his life the best he can, including on June 9 when he had on his cap and gown and attended graduation ceremonies at Richfield High School's Spartan Stadium.

Without the chair, Williams has been stitching together a less-than-perfect fix that includes Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare arranging for a temporary replacement so Samajae could make medical appointments ahead of lengthy surgery on his spine scheduled for Tuesday.

It was early Saturday evening when Williams exited the Cub Foods store at E. 59th Street and Nicollet Avenue and saw that her SUV was gone. Store security showed Williams surveillance video that revealed that someone bashed in the passenger-side back window, leapt through the gap and drove off.

She said that turning immediately to Minneapolis police for help proved fruitless: 30 minutes on hold with dispatch followed by waiting in vain for an officer to meet her at the scene. Williams paid for an Uber ride to the Fifth Precinct headquarters nearly 4 miles up Nicollet Avenue and filed a report.

As of Monday evening, Williams' vehicle remains in the impound lot.

"Two investigators have either reached out or spoken with Tamika," Minneapolis police Sgt. Derrick Parton said Monday. "Evidence is being sought and collected. Some impound fees can be waived upon request. MPD has placed the vehicle on an investigative hold. No fees are accumulated while the vehicle is on hold."

As of mid-July, auto thefts in Minneapolis totaled about 4,700 across the city in 2023, according to data tracked by Minneapolis police. That's a 70% increase from this time in 2022.

Across the river, law enforcement leaders in St. Paul recently celebrated a 32% decline in car thefts from a year ago. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher attributes these results to proactive policing tactics aimed at taking the most prolific thieves off the streets.

Marson, who referred questions to Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Linders, is "an important part" of Fletcher's "Carjacking and Auto Thefts" (CAT) unit, Linders said.

"This is what we do," Linders said. "We help people get their cars back."

As she waited to hear from an officer in Minneapolis last week — the city's Police Department has one investigator devoted to auto thefts — Williams remained grateful for Marson's unsolicited help.

"He told me he was going to get me my car," she said, "and he did just that."