PORT ANGELES — A young man wearing only a hospital gown and perhaps a light jacket while lost in the Deer Park area was found after search and rescue teams had mobilized and pleas had gone out over Facebook.
“I am eternally grateful for everybody on Facebook who prayed,” said Karen Rogers, a friend of the family who posted a notice that he was lost on The Real Port Angeles Facebook site earlier Saturday.
“People actually got in their cars and went looking for him,” she said, noting that her message had more than 400 shares. “They notified all the neighborhood watch groups.
“This is the good of social media.”
Rogers’ post said the 22-year-old was mentally challenged. She said he was last seen near the entrance to Deer Park Road and Township Road at about noon.
Chief Criminal Deputy Brian King of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said that the man had walked away from the Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles against doctor’s wishes.
“Somehow he was reunited with his father,” Smith said. “His dad was driving him in that area when he jumped out of the vehicle and ran into the woods.”
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team as well as inmate recovery teams from Clallam Bay Corrections Center and Olympic Corrections Center were seeking the young man, King said.
“They are highly skilled in tracking individuals in the woods,” King said.
Rogers posted at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday that the man had been found.
“They just found him,” Rogers said on the phone.
“He came out of the woods and law enforcement was there.”
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
