A voluntary program designed to keep track of at risk people may have saved the life of a 19 year old Santa Barbara County man.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office officials say that on Saturday, a young man with autism disappeared from his residential care home in Santa Maria. His caretakers notified Sheriff’s deputies.
Because the man’s family had signed him up for what’s known as Project Lifesaver, he was wearing a tracking device. Three hours after the man was reported missing, a helicopter tracking the radio signal found the man swimming in neck deep water in a reservoir five miles from the care home.
Officials say the man would have probably drowned if they hadn’t found and rescued him.