Habersham County authorities quickly located a missing child at about noon Monday thanks to a drone operator with the Habersham County Sheriff's Office.
Units from the Habersham County Sheriff's Office and Habersham County Emergency Services responded at about 11:40 a.m. to a home off North Mize Road where the child had wandered away from the home.
Rob Moore, public information officer with the sheriff's office, said Deputy Sheriff Justin Williams, an FAA-certified drone pilot, responded and began flying the area with the sheriff's office drone.
The child was located with the drone's camera at the same time ground personnel saw him near a creek on a nearby property. The child was a short distance away from a pond.
“We have a drone that not only functions well in the daytime, but also has heat detection and is useful at night,” said Sheriff Joey Terrell. “In situations like the one today, valuable time is saved when we’re able to get an earlier start on searching a wider area while additional resources are traveling to the area.”
The child was not hurt and was returned to his home by a sheriff's deputy.
