6 hours Ago By Tony Shin
SANTEE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Two San Diego County sheriff’s deputies and an off-duty dispatcher are being credited with saving the life of an 11-year-old boy with autism who was found wandering in freeway traffic earlier this year.The incident happened on March 9 after the child went missing from a Vons grocery store around 4:30 p.
m. while shopping with his family. Over the course of about 45 minutes, he had wandered more than two miles and ended up near State Route 52 and Mast Boulevard, where he ran into traffic.
Dramatic video from the sheriff’s ASTREA helicopter captured the heart-stopping moments as the boy walked dangerously close to high-speed vehicles on the freeway.Shiloh Corbet, a 17-year veteran sheriff’s dispatcher who was off duty and driving home at the time, spotted the boy running across Mast Boulevard.Video shows rescue of autistic boy wandering on freeway“I live in Santee, so I was exiting the 52 and saw a child running in front of vehicles on Mast,” Corbet said.
Recognizing the boy from radio descriptions, she quickly alerted authorities.Corbet got out of her car and tried to reach the child as he ran up an embankment and crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway.“I don’t know if he could hear me, but I was yelling his name and trying to tell him to stay there,” Corbet said.
“He was trying to cross into the eastbound lanes.”Deputies Cody Green and Michael Moser soon arrived at the scene. They found the boy in the center divide between the eastbound and westbound lanes of State Route 52.
“We ran up the embankment. I tried to approach him slowly to see if he would communicate or understand that we were trying to help,” Green said.The boy, who is nonverbal, did not respond and ran again — this time hopping over the center divider and nearing the speeding traffic.
The deputies quickly gave chase, grabbing the child and walking him to safety.Encinitas community grieves 12-year-old girl killed in crash“I’m a parent myself — I have three boys,” Green said. “I honestly didn’t even think about my safety.
”Moser said the rescue was a relief. “That was the best outcome — getting him up over the wall again, away from all those flying cars.”The deputies later reunited the boy with his family.
The child was uninjured, and his parents expressed deep gratitude for the rescue.Corbet, who typically dispatches deputies from behind a computer screen, said the experience was eye-opening.“It confirmed that I don’t want to be sworn,” she said, laughing.
“I’m happy with the headset.”Corbet and the deputies were recently honored by the sheriff’s department for their heroic actions.“She happened to be in the right place at the right time and made the right call,” Green said of Corbet.
Most importantly, officials said, the boy is safe and doing well..
