FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — The Flagler County Sheriff is crediting teamwork between his deputies and a good Samaritan for helping rescue an elderly man found clinging to a canal fence.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, deputies got a call about a missing elderly Palm Coast man around 2 a.m. Saturday.
When deputies arrived, the elderly man’s wife told them she had last seen her husband hours earlier when she went to bed.
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Deputies determined the man had walked away from the home after finding the back door unlocked and the couple’s car still in the driveway.
During the search of the neighborhood, deputies began asking neighbors with surveillance cameras to check for any video they might have of the man and what direction he may have gone.
A neighbor, who had been woken up by deputies earlier, called back to say that they had found a man in their backyard near a canal.
When they arrived at the home, deputies found the missing man “clearly exhausted” clinging to a chain-link fence near the canal.
Deputies then stayed with the man until EMS personnel arrived.
Sheriff Rick Staly said if not for the cooperation between deputies and neighbors, the outcome could have been dire.
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“The community coming together to help search for a missing person in the middle of the night is a great reminder of just how great Flagler County is and probably saved his life”, Staly said.
After being checked out by Flagler EMS, the man was allowed to return home.
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