VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A senior citizen with dementia is safe after he went missing on Saturday, sparking a major search party in Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach police officers found the man in a 12-foot ditch that was filled with about a foot of water, only a few feet away from a major highway.
Sergeant Mark Miller with the Virginia Beach Police Department said it's likely that the man would have succumbed to hypothermia if he was in the water any longer.
The 911 call came in shortly after the 80-year-old man went missing from a nearby hospice facility. Miller said Virginia Beach's Aviation Unit was already in the air when they heard about the situation.
"They immediately went above to look for the man, there they were able to find him pretty readily and then guided officers right to him," Miller said.
The moment was captured on Virginia Beach's helicopter camera. Several officers found the man and helped pull him out of the ditch and towards safety.
Miller said the rescue is just one instance of all the calls they get and respond to.
"We have one of the only aviation units in our area and so we respond to several, several calls," Miller said. "We're just glad this got a happy ending."
The man is now back home safely, recovering and wearing a tracking bracelet.