SUN PRAIRIE — A Dane County Sheriff’s Office drone was used Saturday to help the Sun Prairie Police Department find an 87-year-old man who had walked away from his senior living facility just before midnight.
Time was of the essence, as he was only wearing a shirt, pants, and socks, and wind chills were in the single digits, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Using thermal optics on the drone, they identified an unusual “hotspot” in a marshy field about a quarter mile northeast of the senior living facility within seven minutes of their flight.
The drone operators then directed searchers to the location, where they found the man crawling through the field.
He had sustained minor injuries, and EMS treated him at the scene.
Paramedics said that given the weather conditions, had the man not been found quickly, he would have been severely hypothermic within an hour and would not have survived the night.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office UAV Team consists of 13 FAA-certified drone UAV operators.
