CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are trying to find an east Charlotte burglar who stole some Paralympic medals and prosthetic legs from a disabled athlete.
"There was a TV sitting on that table they kind of trashed my room a little bit," said 22-year-old Paul Peterson.
He's been running for three years and competes in the 100, 60 and 4x100.
Peterson lost his right leg when he was 15 in a motorcycle accident on W.T. Harris.
"At first he was very depressed," said Tina Maxwell his mother. Peterson says for a while he hid his disability.
"I think my first five years of being an amputee, I wore pants never wore shorts. I didn't like people looking at my leg," he said.
"I'm competing first because I love the sport."
Along the way Peterson has collected more than 20 medals, which are now in the possession of a thief, who also took his USA jackets, shoes and other items in Wednesday's burglary.
"I cried last night a little bit because his medals, he can't get those back. They are very sentimental to him," said Maxwell.
The thief also stole his prosthetic blades, which most people associate with Olympian Oscar Pistorius. And that means that he can't train for Nationals this week.
But as you might expect Peterson isn't getting down he's going to find a way to overcome.
"This is not going to stop me at all this is going to make me come back even stronger," he said. His mother agrees. "He's awesome and he's a hero, our family hero."
Those athletic blades are very expensive costing, $3,000 apiece. He's hoping to come up with a replacement in a week or two. There's a GoFundMe account in place.
Peterson's goal is to make the 2016 Paralympic team and compete in Rio.
