Many handicapped people try very hard to lead the same lives they would live if they weren’t handicapped, working at downplaying their differences while striving for the best. One man with one leg decided that he would try to be the best criminal he could be, stealing rental cars right off the airport lot. Somehow, a man without a right leg (inconveniently the one you are supposed to use to drive) and crutches stole five cars in four weeks from two different car lots at Philadelphia International Airport. How did 44-year-old and one-legged man Benjamin Copeland do it?

“He was a physically challenged individual who uses crutches and is missing his right leg which makes this even more bizarre because the right leg is key when operating the gas pedal, but somehow he was able to maneuver himself,” said Inspector William Colarulo.

This crime took maneuvering. Police say Copeland rode the rental company’s shuttle bus to the lot. Somehow he figured out that if he hit a button inside a shuttle bus, the gate on the back exit would go up. Police say he then got into one of the rental SUV’s, keys already inside, and drove right out. In early May, he allegedly stole two Ford Expeditions. Then, this past Monday, police say he drove off with one Suv, Tuesday, another and Wednesday, a third. But apparently, he couldn’t afford the gas.

Copeland has confessed to the crimes, just a few more added to an already extensive rap sheet of 17 previous arrests (5 for robbery, two for auto theft, three for aggravated assault, and two for narcotics, including others). Apparently the loss of a leg hasn’t removed his love of a life of crime.

[Source]

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