Both drones and thermal imaging have been condemned at times by privacy activists who feel they are tools for the rising Surveillance State. But there are times when their usage is indisputably positive, such as the case of 10-year-old Peyton Saintignan.
The Louisiana girl had gone missing after sleepwalking a mile and a half from her home. She was missing for a day before being spotted by a civilian drone operator, leading to her rescue.
A 10-year-old girl got lost in dense Louisiana woods after sleepwalking out of her home — before being saved thanks to a helpful drone operator who spotted her using thermal images.
Peyton Saintignan went missing from her home near Shreveport at around 10 p.m. on Sept. 14, Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker told Good Morning America Monday. The youngster was reportedly sleepwalking when she had wandered away from her home.
Parker said that when his office was notified, “family and neighbors had already been looking for her about an hour” before the sheriff, Louisiana State Police, and hundreds of volunteers joined in to find the missing child.
A trail camera used by hunters deep in the wilderness snapped a picture of the 10-year-old and was all the search and rescue party had to track her down. However, Drone operator Josh Klober caught word about the massive search for Saintignan and wanted to help.
Traveling 40 miles from his home in Arkansas, Klober arrived on the scene on Sept. 15 with a drone with thermal image capabilities from his company, Drone Management Services LLC, and started scoping the area.
Parker said the sheriff’s department helped Klober set up his gear, including a generator and a large flat-screen TV, before launching his drone.
Klober located Saintignan curled up in the fetal position on the ground in the thickness of the woods about 20 minutes after his drone took flight.
“We saw the purple and white pajamas that she had been wearing,” Klober told the outlet. “She was laying there. She wasn’t moving and everybody was just kind of holding their breath.”
Officials were then able to direct rescuers to her location, and moments later, at around 11 p.m., the sleepwalking child was woken up by her best friend’s dad and taken to safety.
Saintignan had managed to walk over 1.5 miles from her home when she was found. Parker said it was “truly a miracle” that the 10-year-old was not harmed when she was found.
“Other than some mosquito bites, she was perfect,” Parker said.
