The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department released video of a dramatic rescue in Santee. NBC 7’s Joe Little spoke to the deputies and the woman who saved a boy with autism on state Route 52.
An 11-year-old boy with autism who had run away from his family at a supermarket in Santee was rescued after an off-duty dispatcher spotted him alongside state Route 52, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office announced Monday.
Sheriff's Dispatcher Shiloh Corbet reported witnessing the child running along Mast Boulevard near an on-ramp at approximately 5:15 p.m. on March 9, authorities said.
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WATCH HERECorbet immediately notified dispatchers at the Sheriff's Communication Center about the child's whereabouts and reported that he had begun running up the on-ramp. She then stopped her vehicle and began following the child, who had crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway and was standing in the center divider.
"Knowing the child's name from the information given to her by the Sheriff's Communication Center, Corbert called to him to stay where he was at for his own safety," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "The entire time, she was relaying information on the phone to an on-duty sheriff's dispatcher supervisor, who was directing deputies to the scene."
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SIGN UP The child was located at the top of a steep embankment as deputies attempted to contact him, but the child had moved away from them. He began moving toward the center divider guardrail moments before the deputies ran up the embankment and attempted to stop him, but the child jumped over the guardrail and began running along traffic on the freeway.
"Without hesitation, deputies Cody Green and Michael Moser jumped over the guardrail and raced to catch up to the child," sheriff's officials said.
The deputies managed to get the child off the freeway, and he was later returned safely to his family.
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The child was reported missing on March 9 after he was last seen around 4:30 p.m. at a supermarket in the 9600 block of Mission Gorge Road. Sheriff's officials stated that he was nonverbal and had been with family before running out of the store.
