Durango Police Department quickly located a 12-year-old boy with autism who went missing from the Durango Mall on Tuesday by using a drone to survey the area from above.
Cmdr. Nick Stasi, operating the drone, located the boy playing “dangerously close to the water” at the edge of the Animas River near the mall, DPD said in a post to its Durango Police Facebook page.
“Commander Stasi kept visual contact and directed officers to the boy’s exact location,” the post said. “Officer Coleman safely reached him, and he was reunited with his mother.”
Chief Brice Current presented drone footage of the incident at a Kiwanis Club meeting where he discussed new first responder technology on Thursday.
The footage shows the drone launched from Durango Fire Protection District Station 2 at 6:11 p.m. on Tuesday and had reached the Animas River behind the Durango Mall by 6:14 p.m. The boy appears to be spotted playing near the river at 6:21 p.m., based on released footage.
Stasi kept watch via the drone and directed officers to the boy’s exact location.
Body camera footage included in DPD’s post shows Officer Adam Coleman helping the boy up a hill where he was reunited with his mother.
Drones help officers search faster, cover more ground and find people sooner, according to DPD.
“What a hike, buddy, good job,” Coleman said.
The mother can be heard thanking the officer.
When the boy saw officers approaching, he said, “Uh-oh,” Current said.
The incident was resolved without issue. But the boy was in a more dangerous situation than he may have realized.
Durango Emergency Communications Center Director Kati Fox said at the meeting her team recently had National Center for Missing and Exploited Children training about autism and water danger.
“Autistic children are 160 times more likely to die from drowning than a neurotypical child, and 80% of wandering deaths that are related to autistic children are due to drowning,” she said. “The outcome for that call could have been incredibly different.”
She said the drone deployed by police had a direct impact on the outcome of the incident, with the boy being returned safely to his mother.
The drone used in DPD’s search and rescue on Tuesday is called a Skydio X10 DFR Drone, said Amanda Garrison, DPD spokeswoman. The police department leased two Skydio drones for $12,000 per year, which are stored at DFPD Station 2.
Current said the drones have been deployed only a couple of times so far and the department is still implementing its drone first responder program.
cburney@durangoherald.com
