A Lake County Sheriff’s Office police dog helped deputies locate a missing suicidal man in unincorporated Barrington last week.
On August 24, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 28900 block of West Park Drive in unincorporated Barrington for a report of a missing 39-year-old man. Authorities said that the man was in mental crisis and told his loved ones that he wanted to hurt himself.
The man had been missing for over an hour and the people searching for the man were unable to locate him.
Officials said that Deputy John Forlenza and his K-9 partner, Dax, responded to the scene. The K-9 started tracking the scent of the missing man for nearly a mile, before locating him face down near the shoreline of the Fox River. The man was incoherent and in mental distress, authorities said in a statement.
The man was transported to a local hospital for a mental health/well-being evaluation.
“Dax and Deputy Forlenza likely saved this man’s life and I am extremely proud of them,” Sheriff Mark Curran said.
“We have four canine teams in the community every day, keeping Lake County safe. They have an excellent record of locating missing people, finding fleeing offenders, and detecting contraband. Our canine teams are an asset to the Lake County community,” Curran went on to say in the statement.