Forlorn Theft Victim Is Rolling Again : Crime: A Westminister police officer bought a replacement bike for a handicapped Vietnamese woman after her only means of transportation had been stolen.

Anh Thi Nguyen, a 36-year-old Vietnamese woman who can neither speak nor hear, cried last week when her bike was stolen from a Huntington Beach shopping center. It was her only transportation and, without it, she felt stranded.

But Monday she was riding again, this time on a red Univega five-speed bought for her by a sympathetic Westminster police officer, whose act of generosity has won him the family’s loyalty and who is now known by the Nguyens as a “savior.”

“With her handicap, she never thought anybody would be nice to her,” her mother, Luc Thi Nguyen, said though an interpreter Monday. “And now she realizes there are people who are nice to her.”

Officer Robert Trotter, an eight-year veteran of the force who has spent the past three years working in Little Saigon, said his heart went out to the woman after he learned of the theft.

“It was her only method of transportation. She feels kind of lost without it,” Trotter said. “Given her culture and her handicap . . . job opportunities are real limited. I wanted to help her in some way--hopefully restore her faith in society, too.”

For Trotter, it was a handwritten note, scrawled in broken English, that brought his attention to the crime and how much it had pained Anh Thi Nguyen.

“I would like you to pay attention of my bicycle,” read the note, which Luc Thi Nguyen wrote for her daughter. “I hope you help me about that, because I don’t have the auto. I use only my bicycle for go to market or shopping.”

The note came with a drawing of the stolen bike, which has not been recovered.

“After reading the letter and seeing Anh, I thought the best thing to do was to get her another bike as soon as possible. It kind of touched me and I felt I had to do something a little extra,” Trotter said. “I got into police work to help people. And I felt she needed a little extra help.”

Worried that a charitable organization would take too long to replace Anh Nguyen’s cherished bicycle, Trotter took it on himself to come up with $75 for a replacement. He presented it to her Monday at the Westminster police station, and she accepted it nervously as her mother gushed with gratitude and reporters looked on.

“He’s like a savior to us for doing this for our daughter,” said Luc Thi Nguyen, who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam six years ago and came to Westminster last year. “She won’t forget him. She considers him a real friend.”