Police Rescue Missing Persons from Woods Early Sunday

The deep chatter of helicopters filled the air above the south side of Scotch Plains late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. New Jersey State Police and New York Police Department aviation units assisted in the search of six and possibly eight people who became lost in the wooded reservation that borders the Union County Vocational Technical Schools, Martine Avenue and Oak Ridge Park in Clark.

At 11:29 p.m. Saturday night, Breaking News Network (BNN), which monitors emergency services scanners across New Jersey, reported that police had mounted a search for four minors who were reported missing in the reservation.

In the parking lot of the Union County Police Academy, the Scotch Plains, Westfield and Union County Police Departments, the Scotch Plains Fire Department and the Scotch Plains Rescue Squad established a staging area and landing zone. Overhead and about a mile away, a New Jersey State Police helicopter hovered over the reservation.

Scotch Plains Police Lt. Joseph Zito confirmed that four people had gone missing. He declined to confirm whether they were minors or whether they were returning from the first night of Union County MusicFest, which took place in Oak Ridge Park and had concluded about an hour before.

At 1:44 a.m., BNN reported that two K-9 officers and two EMTs who had gone into the woods had also become lost. However, only minutes later, the K-9 officers and the four missing persons emerged from the woods. Zito said that the officers and missing persons were unharmed.

Two K-9 officers and their dogs soon arrived by car to the staging area, and the New Jersey State Police helicopter landed nearby. When the officers emerged from the car, their pants were covered with what appeared to be dried mud. About a half-hour later, a Clark Emergency Squad ambulance, its emergency lights flashing, was seen leaving the Union County Vo-Tech and Police Academy campus with multiple people in the rear compartment.

Zito declined to confirm whether the two EMTs were still missing. However, the search continued even after the officers and missing persons were found. Police also requested assistance from an NYPD aviation unit, which landed at the staging area shortly before 2:30 a.m.

At about 2:45 a.m., the New Jersey State Police and NYPD helicopters retook to the air and returned to the airspace above the reservation. But only a half-hour later, the sound of helicopters diminished, and the south side of Scotch Plains once again became quiet. At 3:17 a.m., the latest report from BNN arrived: all missing persons had been recovered from the woods unharmed.

Stay tuned to the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Patch for the full story on this incident.