A double amputee whose wheelchair was pushed down the stairs and destroyed by an NHL star’s son has broken her silence.
22-year-old Sydney Benes was using the restroom at Sullivan’s Irish Pub in Pennsylvania when she found out that her wheelchair was at the bottom of the stairs.
Speaking to Inside Edition, she said: “All that kept going through my mind was: ‘God I hope this was an accident, I really hope somebody just accidentally bumped it down the stairs somehow.’”
She then discovered that Carso Briere, the son of NHL star Daniel Briere, was the person responsible for the damage.
“They were laughing about it. It was really hurtful and disrespectful and just kind of heartbreaking,” Sydney, who lost both of her legs in a car accident, expressed.
“Carson was told to come apologize to me and the apology was quite insincere.
“People were saying: ‘Oh, he’s acting like a child.’ No child would throw a wheelchair down a staircase, in my opinion, because they have a heart and morals.”
Benes was left with damaged wheelchair after the incident.
“The brake is bent, so it makes it quite a bit harder to lock,” she said. “The armrest is broken, and we do believe the frame is bent.”
Benes said that a GoFundMe page was set up for her and it raised over $8,000. She said that she would use the money to repair or replace her wheelchair and that any remaining amount would be donated to other people with disability.
“I’d rather take this and turn it into a learning experience for everybody,” she said.
“I’d rather make people more aware of the stuff disabled people have to go through. We just want a little bit of help, a little bit of understanding.”
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