MEDINA, Ohio — It's a frightening scenario no family wants to face: An elderly loved one goes for a drive, gets lost or confused on the roads, and ends up missing for hours or longer.
Sgt. Eugene Crum with Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to two of those calls in the last five months.
Crum, who has a soft spot for senior citizens, is grateful both cases had happy endings.
"My parents are getting up there in age. I love my mom dearly. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her," Crum said. "If she had gotten lost, or if any other person gets lost, I would only hope that all the resources would be used."
On August 23, an 85-year-old York Township resident left his home in his 2012 Buick Lacrosse and headed for an auto parts store in Medina to exchange a car battery, but when he didn't return home, his family got worried and reported him missing to the Medina County Sheriff's Office.
"It's just panic, sheer panic. You don't know where he could be," said his son, who didn't want his family to be identified. "You hear stories of other elderly people who ended up two or three states away. They've been in an accident, or somebody was killed or whatever."
According to a police report, a Flock camera at Court Street and Smith Road in Medina got a hit on the vehicle traveling south.
Deputies, heading south on Route 3, were notified by dispatch that the senior's phone was pinging in the area of I-71 in Ashland County.
Crum also began searching and found the elderly driver pulled off of I-71 South near Mansfield.
On body camera video, Crum asks the driver, "How are you doing tonight?" The driver responded, "Lost."
"He had really no clue where he was— 71 but not the county," Crum said.
The man's family, who had wondered where he was for nearly four hours, was relieved that the trooper was by his side.
"It was such a relief to know that he was okay," his son told News 5.
In March, Crum experienced a similar situation when he found a man who had been reported missing from Michigan.
In that case, the man went to a dentist appointment and ended up lost and out of gas near Law and Mendell roads in Grafton Township, several hours from home.
Body camera video also captured the interaction between Crum and that senior.
"Your daughter has been talking to Michigan State Police, and she's filing a missing person's report on you," Crum said. The man responded,"Is that right?"
Crum said it was clear that the driver was also confused.
"He did have dementia, and he was on medication, and his family, they're concerned because they can't get a hold of him," Crum said.
Incidents like these can lead to difficult conversations among family members with a lingering question that can cause anxiety and fear: Is it time to take the keys away from mom or dad?
"Driving is independence, and so when you take away somebody's keys and their car, they've also lost some independence," said Donna Barrett, program manager for Senior Adult Services at Summit County Public Health.
Barrett said families can contact hospitals, health departments or the BMV to get suggestions for driving evaluations.
She stressed it's best to be honest with family members experiencing confusion — that it may not be safe for them to be on the roads. Letting the driver know that there will be other ways to go shopping or visit friends is also important.
"You want to make sure you replace as much as you can so they don't feel the big loss of independence," Barrett said.
Crum said the Ohio Revised Code also allows law enforcement to notify BMV if they come across a driver who potentially shouldn't be behind the wheel.
"If the BMV looks at the incident and they approve it, then the motorist will have to go and they'll have to deal with their physician and get examined. Everything is just an administrative function through the BMV at that point," Crum explained.
The son of the elderly driver who was found on I-71 believes his father has some form of dementia, and the family is keeping his car away from him pending future visits to doctors.
He's grateful to technology and for the law enforcement officers who found his dad safe.
"We're blessed to have him, have my dad," he said.
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