K9 Officer and deputies found missing 3-year-old boy who climbed out through window
By: Bodycam video released by the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office shows the moment a missing three-year-old boy is found by a K9 officer and deputies.
After the boy was located by K9 officer Kuno and Deputy Calhoun, another deputy ran to the boy. In the video, you can hear the deputy shout "hey buddy!" as he ran to the child. He then picked up the crying boy.
The deputy can then be heard telling the child, "it's ok. It's ok."
Around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office, South Haven Police and Michigan State police responded to a missing three-year-old boy in Geneva Township off 68th street near Baseline Road.
The Sheriff's office said the boy was found just 50 yards from a large body of water. Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott said that the situation could have been very different if the boy had gotten closer to the water.
"That kid went through a little finger of woods. Think about that, kids go to water, so if we weren't to locate that kid when we did, you're talking three, four or five minutes, that kid might have wandered in one of those ponds, we'd have a different outcome," said Abbott.
Van Buren County and MSP K9 units, along with drone teams from Great Lakes Drone and South Haven Emergency Services, split up the search area.
"On a call like this, the best thing you can do immediately is put dogs on the ground and drones in the air," said Abbott.
K9 officers searched for the boy's scent, and drone teams searched from above for the boy.
"Our canine got to the wooded area over there, he did see a little footprint in the mud and the canine track started," said Abbott.
Shortly after, a drone spotted the boy. At the same time, the K9 handler radioed in to say they found him.
The boy was found in just his diapers and had wandered a quarter of a mile from home after pushing out the screen of an open window.
The boy was found with minor scratches.
Sheriff Abbott said this is the fifth lost child found by K9 officer Kuno and Deputy Calhoun.
"I'll be here 32 years next week. I've never heard of a canine recovering multiple kids throughout its career," said Abbott. "This is a deputy on his days off, sets up trainings with other agencies so he can stay on point with this dog. His goal is to have the number one dog in the state of Michigan, if not the nation. That is the drive he has. This dog has that drive."