A San Luis Obispo Transit bus driver and his dispatcher assisted the local police department with locating a missing elderly women.
The San Luis Police Department. contacted the SLO Transit dispatch office to request their assistance. SLO PD wanted to know if any of the bus drivers had seen an elderly woman who had gotten separated from her group the afternoon of Tuesday the 12th. Before the dispatcher, James Parry, could put out an all-call “canned” message for drivers to be on the alert, driver Johnathan Ellis radioed in his concern for an elderly woman who appeared to be disoriented. When this woman met the description given by SLO PD, they were able to intercept her and bring her to safety.
The missing person was an 84 year old woman from Cambria who went missing from the Madonna Plaza Shopping Center. She was in San Luis Obispo with a group of Senior Citizens for the afternoon. She was located about two hours later all the way across town, on the Cal-Poly campus, by the alert bus driver.
This is the second time this year that SLO Transit bus drivers and staff have been able to assist local police departments with locating missing persons. The other incident happened in June when another person was reported missing by the Atascadero City Police Department. In collaboration with video footage provided by SLO Transit, that police department was also able to locate their person and bring them to safety. “We are very happy that this person was found. We can’t imagine the relief this must bring to her family. SLO Transit bus services remain committed to the safety of all its passengers and are happy to come to aid of our community members” said Public Works Director Daryl Grigsby.
