VIDEO: Police use thermal imaging to find toddler who wandered into woods

LAPEER COUNTY, Mich. (Zenger News) — An intense search for a 2-year-old boy ended successfully after police in Michigan used a helicopter with thermal imaging to locate the child, who had wandered into the woods.

The boy’s father called police on June 1 after he woke up and noticed the front door was open and the family dog, which follows the child everywhere, was soaking wet.

The dog’s paw prints led to a nearby pond, where a Lapeer County Dive Team began searching, local media reported. A K-9 unit from the county Sheriff’s Office, working with Michigan State Police, began searching nearby woods.

Around midnight, a police helicopter joined the search, using thermal imaging to find the boy’s heat signature. They eventually found a small “hot spot” under a tree and guided the officers on the ground to its location.

The officers reached the boy and reported: “We’ve got him, and he’s all right.”

(Edited by Judith Isacoff and Fern Siegel)