ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. — A routine air patrol in Marion County became a life-saving mission all the way in Elkhart County.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Eric Streeval and Tactical Flight Officer Corporal John Riggers were flying in the skies above Marion County when they got a call about a missing child in Elkhart around 9:15 Monday night. The two officers answered the call.
“So they were flying an air patrol here in the Marion County area,” says Sgt. Ron Galaviz with Indiana State Police, “about 9:15 [Monday night], they received a call that the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office had requested assistance locating a missing child.”
Streeval and Riggers made the 150 mile trip north, near the Indiana/Michigan state line. The airborne officers stopped in South Bend to fill up their gas tank, then flew to a pitch-black cornfield, where a ground team was busy searching for the child. They arrived around 11 o’clock and began their search.
Sgt. Galaviz says, “shortly thereafter, they identified what they believed to be the missing child east of where they had been searching originally. And so with radio communications that they have with the officers on the ground, they were able to get those officers connected with the young child about 30 minutes later.”
The child was in good health, despite being lost outside in the summer heat. They were returned to their family that night.
You can hear the full interview with Sgt. Ron Galaviz below:
