The man believed to have been critically missing in Riverside County was found by an officer after he deployed a drone to fly through the area he last saw, officials said.
It is unclear when the incident occurred in Desert Hot Springs, and while police say in an Instagram post in an April 5th post it was “a few days ago,” officers responded to the city’s East End with reports of a missing elderly man suffering from dementia.
The man reportedly was away from the local nursing home, but despite staff best efforts, they were unable to find him, according to the Hot Springs Police Department in the Desert.
Desert Hot Springs police deployed a drone to find a missing elderly man normally with dementia. (DHSPD)
According to an Instagram post, the department’s drone team quickly deployed the drone.
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Coordinating with ground officers, the missing elderly man was within ten minutes of the drone team arriving at the scene. He discovered wandering in the area and was safely returned to his care facility.
“This incident underscores its power to coordinate ground and aviation assets during a serious incident,” police added.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a person who is “critical” missing or “at risk” is defined as:
Missing person/child is a victim of a crime or foul play/child is missing/child has no pattern of fleeing or disappearing/child dying.
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