Fire Department Saves Autistic Man From Treatment Plant Drainage Ditch
By Peak Johnson
Firefighters in Winston-Salem, NC, were able to rescue a missing autistic man from a water treatment facility drainage ditch. early this month.
Police said that officers had responded to a missing persons call at a car wash at Griffith Road and West Clemmonsville Road. Officers had determined the missing person was an 18-year-old autistic man and classified it as a “high risk” missing person investigation, according to myfox8.com.
Officers later found the man in a deep water-drainage ravine that surrounds the Griffith Road Water Treatment Facility.
Although police officers could see the missing person, they could not safely recover him from the ravine. They decided to call the Winston-Salem Fire Department for assistance, according to police.
According to journalnow.com, the ravine had less than a foot of water in it at the time. The man was treated for minor injuries from an earlier fall.
His identity is not being released by police at the request of the man's legal guardian, police said.