LADY LAKE, Fla. – Officer Robert Chausse with the Lady Lake Police Department was one of two officers who responded to this week’s search.
Police say they received a tip from the man’s wife early Tuesday morning that her husband, who has dementia, wandered into the night while she was asleep on Monday.
Officer Chausse says it was around 7 a.m. Tuesday when they got to the couple’s home in the historic part of The Villages.
He says that not long after arriving, the drone was put up immediately, and in just three minutes, he was found.
Police drone video shown first on News 6 Wednesday night shows when police and the elderly man made contact.
Video shows the man walking slowly to police on a nearby golf cart path.
He was seen covered in blood.
It’s believed he’d fallen while away from his home, about 700 feet in distance.
Chausse explains why a police drone was used in the search instead of using other police search options.
“When we responded to the house we were looking for this elderly man who had wandered away with limited mobility and instead of driving around the house hoping for luck we can find someone in the neighborhood we used the drone it’s more efficient we can get a birds eye view of a much a larger area as opposed to being stuck in a vehicle driving street by street. ”
Officer Chausse says the process to use the drone is pretty simple...with training, of course.
" The drone can be airborne within about two minutes, and then, it’s just a matter of establishing a well search pattern to look for someone," says Chausse.
The drone equipment and training to learn how to use the device totals about $24,000, but Chausse says if it saves one life, it’s well worth the cost.
He says in his experience, he’s seen the drone be more than 80% successful when used as part of police investigations.