The family of a 87-year-old man with dementia credits the quick response of the Mission Police Department in issuing a Silver Alert on Saturday night, for finding the elderly man safely.
Mission Police said Juan Salinas was on his way to his family owned business on Saturday evening.
"He works about a mile and a half away from his house and he always takes the same route," Ricardo Perez, Salinas’ son-in-law, said.
The elderly man would drive down 12th Street from Bryan Rd to Conway, but was blocked off by the Citrus Festival Parade.
When Salinas failed to show up at the business, the family grew concernced and eventually called police.
By 10 p.m., the Mission Police Department issued a Silver Alert.
"He was saved by the grace of God, so we're real lucky to have him back and the Silver Alert was the one that did the trick," Perez added.
At 4 a.m. on Sunday, police received a call from San Benito.
A fireghter firefighter found Salinas early Sunday morning. The truck the elderly man was driving was stuck in a ditch, Mission Police Cpl. Manuel Casas said.
"He stopped to check up on him,” he said. “[The firefighter] found out that he was ok but the man was very disoriented."
Cpl. Casas said the firefighter then called police.
"The police officer that arrived ran a check on him and he did recall the information that there was a missing man matching his description," he added.
Police immediately notified the family, and Salinas was back home by six in the morning.
"He does not know how he ended up in San Benito and he how ended up in the ditch,” Cpl. Salinas concluded. “But thank God nothing happened to him and he's safe and sound at home."
For his part, Perez and the enfire family are very grateful for getting Salinas back home safely.
“I wanna thank especially the Mission PD and the San Benito PD," he finalized.
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