Disabled veteran’s stolen car found

UPDATE 12/6/17:

The 2015 Dodge Challenger, belonging to local veteran, Jason Wright, was located at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.

—————————————————————— ORIGINAL 12/5/17:

After serving 10 years with the Marine Corps, 10 years with the Army, and being injured on the battlefield, Jason Wright of Cathedral City bought a nice car when he got home. The trouble is, someone else thought it was nice too, and they wanted it for free.

Wright survived an IED blast while serving in Baghdad in 2006.
“The insurgents buried it too deep into the ground so when it exploded it was more earth and debris than it was shrapnel,” Wright said.

The blast caused traumatic brain injuries leaving Wright disabled. Wright drove his 2015 Dodge Challenger to a friend’s house in Cathedral City on Monday.

“When I walked out to go leave to come home my car was gone, just poof gone,” Wright said.

The Challenger, which clearly has disabled veteran plates, was stolen.“I think that the worst part of it is that they know that it is a disabled person’s car, even if they don’t know what DV means, they know what the handicapped logo means,” Wright said.

Wright’s wife, Linda, works full time and two out of their three sons still live at home. Wright regularly has doctor appointments in Loma Linda.“I am not able to take him to the appointments that he needs to get to, so we would have to ask for favors for rides or something if he doesn’t get his car back,” Linda Wright said.

Linda Wright posted on Facebook about the thefts which created some leads which have been shared with what Cathedral City Police Department.

The car sticks out on the street because of the after market rims and tires.

“I have had a couple of hits so far. Just people say that they have seen the vehicle in Indio and in Cathedral City and in Palm Springs,” Jason Wright said.

The car also has a Marine Corps logo sticker and a Palmetto and crescent moon sticker on the back.

Anyone who knows the car’s location is asked to call the Cathedral City Police Department.

JOE GALLI IS ON FACEBOOK AND ON TWITTER @JOEGALLINEWS