Workers from the company installed the 5-foot-wide and 10-foot-long aluminum wheelchair ramp outside her Lafayette Street home.
TMP owner Pete Tarver saw a news story last week on a local Arizona TV station about Bagdasaryan, 24, who reported to police that her single-wheel dual ramps leading up to her home’s front door steps had been stolen.
Glendale Officer Steve Eggett interviewed neighbors Thursday about the missing ramps but could not find any witnesses. Police said the aluminum ramps were likely stolen for their scrap metal resale value.
Eggett and another officer installed a wood ramp donated by the Police Department that same day for Bagdasaryan until a more permanent replacement could be acquired.
On Saturday, Tarver called police and offered to donate and install the new ramp free of charge, his brother, Tom Tarver, said.
“We are just so glad we could help,” he said. The ramp is worth $1,700, he added, but for Bagdasaryan’s family, it was priceless.
“You don’t know how much we appreciate this,” her mother, Aida Oganesyan told Tom Tarver and Eggett.
Three days before Christmas 2006, Bagdasaryan was exiting onto Colorado Street from the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway about 7:50 a.m. when she lost control of her Mercedes-Benz sedan and crossed the offramp’s center median. An oncoming delivery truck hit Bagdasaryan’s car, sending it against the rail. Bagdasaryan, who police said was not wearing her seat belt, went through the windshield and fell 50 feet into the Los Angeles River. Rescuers pulled her out from 2 feet of water. She doesn’t know who the men were because they asked to remain anonymous.
Bagdasaryan was in a brief coma and has since been trying to recover from the serious head trauma and multiple fractures. Her recovery has been a slow process, and she is hoping to walk one day.
“Everything happens for a reason,” she said.
Anyone with details about the theft can call the Crime Stoppers at (818) 507-7867.
