A 14-year-old Farmington Hills teenager, diagnosed with autism, was successfully rescued after he strayed from his church group during a hike at Proud Lake State Recreation Area in Commerce Township, as per the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. The incident occurred on Tuesday, when the group, which was accompanied by a chaperon, was out on the trails and at around 4 p.m., the youth unexpectedly ran off into a wooded area, vanishing from sight.
Following the disappearance, a large-scale search ensued, involving numerous resources such as search and rescue teams, a police canine unit from the Department of Natural Resources, and the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority Police Department, along with aerial support from drone and aviation units. "We scrambled our resources, including our search and rescue, our marine division, and our helicopter, among other assets, and after a number of hours, we actually found him from the helicopter about 1.3 miles away from where he had become separated from the group," Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard commented in a statement obtained by ClickOnDetroit.
The search culminated successfully a little after 7 p.m. when helicopter pilots located the stranded teen in a marshy, dense vegetation-filled terrain, where he was immobilized in thick, waist-deep mud with no road access or trails nearby. Dealing with an unimproved area of the park, deputies, navigating a search and rescue boat, were dispatched to extract the teen from the precarious situation.
"Thanks to the amazing work of the search and rescue team, including the invaluable assistance of the helicopter, which was able to find him and guide in rescuers, we were able to save this young man from a dangerous situation that very well may have been our 12th drowning of the year," Bouchard stated in a release highlighted by MLive. After being brought to safety, the boy was then taken to a hospital and evaluated for minor injuries before being released, as noted by deputies.
Sheriff Bouchard expressed his relief at the positive outcome, saying, "It’s like finding gold. You see this young kid that you’re looking for, and they’re still alive," according to ClickOnDetroit.
