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Disasters
Hannah Yang

Emergency responders use drone to rescue man from drowning in Sauk Lake

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Police say an intoxicated man was rescued after jumping into a lake near the Sauk River dam from the Main Street bridge early Sunday morning. 

Around 2:26 a.m. a caller said the man swam toward the middle of the lake where he appeared to struggle, and by the time the Sauk Centre Police arrived, officers couldn’t see the man from the shore. They then launched a drone. 

Sauk Centre Police Chief Joseph Jensen said the operation went smoothly, and that the drone helped make every second count in finding the man in total darkness using thermal imaging a couple hundred feet away from shore. 

“It’s got a very powerful spotlight on it, so that we can lay it up and put [spotlight] on to help rescuers find that person easier or faster,” Jensen said. “That’s what we ended up doing. We just went on the radio and said, ‘the spotlight’s on the victim,’ and then that led the fire crew right to them.”

The $6,000 drone is used in different situations. Jensen said the amount of usage can vary from twice a year two twice a week. Police have used the device while searching for missing juveniles, or patients who wandered away from memory care facilities. They’ve also used it while looking for suspects running on foot. 

Jensen said the situation could have easily turned out differently depending on the lack of equipment or preparedness.

“Without the drone, it would have been a whole different story,” he said. “It could have been a ten minute or 15 minute search, even up to a 20 minute search? We literally did it within two minutes. The two minutes, it’s the longest as far as locating the person.”

The Sauk Centre Fire Department were guided by the drone’s spotlight toward the man and retrieved him. He wasn’t injured and was treated at CentraCare Hospital and then released.