By FireRescue1 Staff
BARGERSVILLE, Ind. — A fire department drone helped catch a man suspected of stealing a car.
FOX59 reported that the Bargersville Fire Department was contacted by police to use their drone and help track a man who had stolen a car and driven into a corn field.
“What ended up happening was that the vehicle ended up going off the road, across the road and then out into a corn field,” Chief Eric Funkhouser said.
The drone was able to locate the man hiding in the tall plants by picking up his movement through thermal imaging.
“Once we had the movement you can tell the difference at that point if it’s a human walking with that heat signature and it took off running. I mean we could honestly see it and I think he knew the drone was up there,” Funkhouser said.
Even after the K9 officers lost the scent of the suspect when he began crawling and laying low, the drone stayed on his tail.
“As I was looking across one of the fields I think he just happened to peek out the edge of the cornfield and I picked up that heat signature. So I flew the drone over the area and was able to get over top of him,” Funkhouser said.
The suspect eventually emerged with his hands up and he was cornered by police.
“We kept them from having to go into a dangerous situation you know because of the technology that we’re able to use,” Funkhouser said.