After a four-hour police search had grown to involve three dogs and a helicopter, a New York state man rode up in a taxicab to the scene of his seemingly abandoned pickup truck on the side of Bennetts Farm Road early Monday evening, Nov. 16.
“He ended up returning to the scene around 7:45 p.m.,” said Ridgefield police Capt. Jeffrey Kreitz.
“It turns out, he came out of the woods, went to a business on Route 7 and called for ride to the scene,” Kreitz said, “… called a cab.”
Police received no explanation for why the man had left his vehicle in a condition that had prompted a police search and disappeared from the area for several hours.
“We got no information in regard to why that had happened, and why the vehicle was left there,” Kreitz said.
The man, who was from Saranac, N.Y. — not Plattsburgh, as originally reported — appeared to be in good physical condition, but was taken to Danbury Hospital in a Ridgefield Fire Department ambulance.
“There was no apparent physical injury, but he was transported to the hospital for evaluation,” Kreitz said.
Empty vehicle
The empty vehicle was on the side of Bennetts Farm Road, between the entrance area for Bennett’s Pond State Park and Route 7. Police had been searching for the driver since mid-afternoon.
“3:15 we got the call. He was found around 7:45, so you’re talking four and a half hours,” Kreitz said.
Police eventually called in a helicopter provided by the Westchester County Police in New York and dogs from Bethel and Brookfield, as well as the department’s own canine, Loki.
“We used the helicopter for the heat signatures,” Kreitz said. “They fly above and they have the ability with forward-looking infrared to pick up heat signatures in dense wooded areas.”
When police responded to the initial report Monday afternoon, and found the empty vehicle left along the side of the road, there appeared to be cause for concern.
“The keys were in the vehicle, the door was wide open, windows were down, as well as some valuables in the car — it was a pickup truck,” Kreitz said.
“We also believed he was in the woods, because we located items belonging to him a short distance from the vehicle, in the woods.
“Obviously we were concerned,” he said. “Couldn’t find the operator of the vehicle — checked the immediate area right away. Then we started to follow up — detectives, get some background information.
“Based on the background information, we were concerned about the well-being of the individual,” Kreitz said.
“We spoke with family members as well as his employers, and employees that he works with.”
Although a resident of Saranac, N.Y., the man had a work connection to this area, police said.
Seen on seven
Police did receive a telephone report of a man seen walking on Route 7 in the area, a short while before the man appeared in the taxicab.
So when the missing man appeared, it wasn’t a completely out of the blue.
“He’d come out of the woods along Route 7, and was walking along the roadway,” Kreitz said.
Then he went into a business on Route 7, called a cab, and was delivered to the scene on Bennetts Farm Road that was the center of the police dog and helicopter search.
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