Sheriff’s Office Uses Aerial Drone to Locate Missing and Endangered Palatine Man in Forest Preserve (Cook County, IL) – The Cook County Sheriff’s Office successfully located a missing and endangered man following an aerial drone search of a heavily wooded section of Deer Park West Forest Preserve in Palatine today, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced.
On Monday night, members of both the Sheriff’s Police K9 Unit and the Aerial Support Response Team (ASRT) responded to Camp Alphonse in the Deer Park Forest Preserve at the request of Cook County Forest Preserve Police after a 63- year-old man was reported missing that afternoon.
The missing person, who has diabetes and early onset dementia, was known to frequently walk in the forest preserve, which is located near his home.
K9 units and ASRT officers searched from approximately 10 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. without locating the individual. At approximately 8 a.m. today, ASRT returned to the area to continue the search. Shortly before 1 p.m., an ASRT officer had just launched the drone to search an area north of the intersection of Arbor Lane and Dundee Road when he saw the victim on the drone camera display laying a short distance off a pathway and hidden from sight by tall grass. p
ASRT officer radioed in the man’s location and held the drone in a stationary position above the man to assist Palatine Police and Cook County Forest Preserve Police who were searching other locations in the preserve, and paramedics who responded to the location.
The man was conscious and conversing with first responders and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Formed in 2021, ASRT has assisted in multiple aerial and marine drone searches for missing persons, provided reconnaissance and tactical support for Hostage/Barricade incidents, and assisted in the search for suspects fleeing police following violent crimes.
Sheriff’s Office Uses Aerial Drone to Locate Missing and Endangered Palatine Man in Forest Preserve
