A Norwegian man driving an electric wheelchair said police stopped him for drunken driving and accused him of stealing the chair. Thor Geir Benjaminsen, 20, whose Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy impairs his ability to walk, said he was driving his Mini Crosser electric wheelchair home from a party Saturday night when he was stopped by police, TheLocal.no reported Thursday.
“I noticed a huge police car with blue lights driving right up behind me shouting, ‘Stop,'” he told the VG newspaper. “They dragged me out of the wheelchair, after which I slipped a little on the ice, and fell to the ground, and then they asked me who I had stolen the wheelchair from.”Benjaminsen said police also accused him of drunk driving. He admitted he had been drinking at the party, but said his was not posing a danger to the public as his wheelchair has a top speed of about 6 mph.
“I was no danger of anyone apart than myself,” he said. “It is worse to drive a lawnmower while intoxicated.”
Benjaminsen said police drove him home with the keys to his wheelchair and told him where they had left it. He said they refused to take the wheelchair to his house because they were still investigating whether it was stolen property.
Source: Norway News
