Sheriff’s Deputies Rescue Missing Autistic Child From California Freeway

The 11-year-old was found running down the freeway after leaving his family at a nearby supermarket.

From left: Assistant San Diego County Sheriff Ricardo Lopez, Dispatcher Shiloh Corbet, Deputy Cody Green, Deputy Michael Moser, Commander John Boyce and Captain Aldo Hernandez posse for a photo in recognition of their part in the rescue of an 11-year-old autistic boy in Santee on March 1, 2025. San Diego County Sheriff's Department

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office released a video April 28 of the harrowing rescue of an 11-year-old autistic boy as he raced down a freeway.

No one was hurt in the March 1 incident, the department reported Monday.

According to the report the sheriff’s department received a call from the boy’s family just before 4:30 p.m. He had gone missing from a nearby supermarket on the 9600 block of Mission Gorge Road.

The child, who is non-verbal, was with his family when he ran out of the store, according to the sheriff’s department.

Within minutes, deputies from the Santee Sheriff’s Station started looking for the child. A sheriff’s helicopter also began making announcements to the public in the area about the boy, the department reported.

At about 5:15 p.m., sheriff’s dispatcher Shiloh Corbet was driving home from work when she spotted someone matching the child’s description running along Mast Boulevard near the State Route 52 on-ramp.

Corbet called the sheriff’s communications center to report the sighting. While on the phone, she noticed the child running up the freeway on-ramp, according to the department.

By the time Corbet got to the freeway’s shoulder, the boy had crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway and was standing in the center divider, according to the report.

Corbet called to the boy and told him to stay where he was for his own safety, the department said.

When deputies Cody Green and Michael Moser arrived at the scene, they parked on the street below the overpass and could see the child at the top of the embankment.

A video of the rescue taken by the sheriff’s helicopter shows the child hunched down on a hill next to a freeway overpass. As deputies run up the hill in his direction, the boy jumped up and began racing toward the freeway.

The boy then jumped a guardrail into the left-hand shoulder of the freeway lanes as cars sped by him. The boy tried to run away from the deputies who followed him on the side of the road.

One deputy caught up to the boy and led him off the freeway to safety.

A dispatcher was heard in the video asking the California Highway Patrol to shut down the freeway, but that request was canceled when the deputies reached him.

“He was soon reunited with his family,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release. “No one was hurt.”

The deputies and communications dispatcher were recognized by the sheriff’s department Monday as part of Autism Acceptance Month.