Superior Township Fire Department replaces autistic child's stolen bike

The Superior Township Fire Department discovered the bike had been stolen after seeing a flier posted in the neighborhood by the family and decided to pull together their resources to replace the bike. The fire department gave Jett a new bike Friday.

Killewald said Jett, who has Asperger's Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, had the bike for less than two weeks before it was stolen.

Killewald said the bike helped her son in many ways with his disorder. Jett and his father, Brian, spent a few days outfitting the bike with blue lights to resemble his favorite movie, Tron. The bike cost around $80 and the lights and accessories cost $50.

"A lot of times kids on the autism spectrum do what we call hyper focusing and he focuses on things like Tron and Star Wars, for which most little boys do," Samantha Killewald said. "He was so excited about the bike and how it looked and every time we would come home he would ride it."

Samantha Killewald said two weeks ago the family cleaned their garage out in preparation of a garage sale and placed a lot of their belongings in the front courtyard. Jett's bike also happened to be in the front at the time.

"We didn't realize it was there and when we came home one afternoon, it was gone," she said. "I thought, there's no way someone stole it. It must be in the garage or maybe he left it down the street at his friend's house."

The family was shocked someone would steal the bike.

"Why would someone take a kid's 10-inch bike?" Samantha Killewald said. "It wasn't a teenager's bike but a little kid's bike. You don’t want to think that someone would do something like that."

Killewald said the family drove around the neighborhood a few times and even searched some of the surrounding fields to see if someone had dumped the bike.

The search was fruitless and Jett's father ended up posting fliers all around the neighborhood, hoping that someone would return the bike.

The family said they never heard anything — that is, until the fire department called last week.

"When they called, I wanted to cry," his mother said. "It just made me feel so good. He has obsessed with this bike since it happened and he talked about it morning, noon and night. Every night he would say, 'Do you think anyone cares about my bike being stolen?' It was hard."

Firefighter Jeff Kujawa said he spotted the flier and immediately thought the fire department should pitch in and help the family out.

"Firefighters are the helping kind and the community gives so much to us so we wanted to give back," Kujawa said. "So us guys contacted Target of Canton Township and the Firefighters Local 3292 purchased the bike for him."

The bike cost around $70 and the firefighters also bought a helmet and bike lock.

Jett, who sometimes has trouble expressing emotions, was excited once the fire department unveiled the bike. He rode the bike several times around the neighborhood.

"It just warms my heart that people still care," Brian Killewald said. "As I was putting the signs up people just drove by and I didn't have any hope of recovering the bike. To know that people still care and were out there looking, it means a lot."