Sheriff's deputies make sure Menifee boy still has a bike

Sheriff's deputies (from left) Brandon Cardinale, Roger Owen and Mark Buelna presented Tristen Crouser with a new bike to replace the one that was stolen.

It takes more than a stolen bike to keep Tristen Crouser down -- and three Menifee Police Department officers obviously feel the same way.

Tristen, 13, and his family returned to their Menifee home Friday night to discover that Tristen's bike had been stolen from in front of his house. A lock through the spokes of the wheel kept it from being ridden, but that didn't keep someone from cutting the lock or carrying the bike away while the family wasn't home.

Tristen's mother Monique called the police, who serve Menifee through contract with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. She told deputy Roger Owen, who arrived within 10 minutes, that she had seen what looked like pieces of Tristen's bike at a home a few blocks away.

In the next couple of hours, with the help of deputies Brandon Cardinale and Mark Buelna, Owen discovered parts of Tristen's neon green bike in the yard of that neighborhood house. Individuals at the location were detained, but at that point the officers didn't have enough to make an arrest, Monique Crouser said.

"We went there with the police and there were bike pieces everywhere -- torn apart, spray painted, everywhere. The officers also found his bike seat there," Monique said. "But they couldn't do anything because it wasn't in someone's bedroom, someone's car. It's not in their direct possession. They even had a helicopter looking for another guy who was hiding out somewhere, the guy we think had the bike tires.

"We came back home and Tristen was a mess, in tears, and all he wanted to do was tell (Deputy Owen) what happened over and over again. Then of course, being the cowboy he is, he started to brag about his horse and show him pictures. I told Tristen that Roger was busy, and he told me he had nothing better to do than help Tristen find his bike."

The three deputies returned to Tristen's house about 9 p.m. and presented him with a bright orange, brand new bike. After they told the story to a store manager at Target, the store donated a new bike for the officers to take to Tristen.

"Those three deserve all the kudos in the world," Tristen's father Rick said.

Tristen has been through a lot in his life. He was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2 and spent more than 900 days in the hospital over the next nine years. Doctors said he didn't have much time to live when a bone marrow donor was finally found. After that donation saved his life, Tristen and his family traveled to Germany to meet the donor -- 36-year-old Ines Borck -- in 2015.

Tristen was benefiting greatly from horse therapy until he fell off his horse in June, suffering a skull fracture and multiple other serious injuries. Monique Crouser said the family was told he might not live through the weekend.

Yet there he was on Saturday, fully recovered and riding his new bike up and down the street.

"This bike's not destroyed, like my other one," he said with a smile.

Monique Crouser had to smile, too.

"People need to hear a positive story like this about the police," she said. "They definitely went above and beyond on this one."

Menifee 24/7 will have more on this story in our video news broadcast Sunday night.