From the Eclectic Fire Department
Shortly before 0930 this morning (7/21) the Eclectic Police Department and Eclectic Fire Department were dispatched to a missing person report in the 5000 block of Claud-Fleahop Rd. Responding officers were informed that a 78 year old male subject with dementia had last been seen around 2:00pm yesterday on foot in the area of East Patton and Little Rd in Tallassee and had failed to return home overnight.
A unified command post was established at Chana Creek Primitive Baptist Church and mutual aid was requested from the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office, Elmore County EMA, City of Tallassee Fire Department, Tallassee Alabama Police Department, Prattville Fire Department, Red Mountain Search Dog Association, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency‘s Aviation unit, and the Alabama Department of Corrections K9 tracking unit. Ground and drone searches were conducted in the area immediately adjacent to the subject’s residence and area hospitals along with Haynes Ambulance of Alabama were contacted to verify neither had provided care to the subject since he was last seen.
EPD began the process of getting a Silver Alert issued and EFD issued a press release requesting help from the public. Almost immediately, numerous verified sightings in the area of Upper River Rd and Dean Circle were reported to the command post via both social media and direct calls. Thanks in very large part to these reports, which considerably narrowed the potential search area, almost exactly two hours after the initial 911 call a Tallassee Alabama Police Department officer located the subject wandering lost on Dusty Trail attempting to find his way home but heading in the wrong direction.
EFD EMS 835’s crew evaluated the patient, found him to be in good condition, and returned him to his family.
EFD would like to extend our thanks to all the agencies that responded to this incident. We also extend a huge thank you to those that provided the sighting reports. Social media is often rightly ridiculed but thanks to it’s broad reach, at times it can be a powerful tool for good. Today was one of those times.
