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Search for missing Bruce
Township man involved community
by Frank DeFrank, Macomb Daily, September 18, 2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
It was just a coincidence, but perhaps a
fortunate one.
On Monday morning, Shelby Township police sponsored a training
session for emergency personnel on how to deal with people who
have hidden disabilities.
A few hours later, police officers and firefighters and even
residents combed the woods of River Bends Park searching for a
mentally impaired man who had wandered away from his group.
The man became so frightened he did his best to avoid
searchers.
"It was ironic," said township Supervisor Ralph Maccarone, who
joined the search for 47-year-old Bruce Kobosh of Bruce
Township.
"He hid from us ... he was scared to death."
Kobosh was a part of a group picnicking in River Bends Park
when he wandered away about 1 p.m. Monday, officials said.
When his party couldn't locate him after a brief search, they
contacted Shelby Township police.
For the next several hours, police searched the massive park
on foot and horseback. They enlisted the help of tracking dogs
and even a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. Residents who live
near the park also joined. One offered the use of his
all-terrain vehicles.
"I ran into I don't know how many residents who just came out
because they heard the helicopter," said David Moore, township
parks and recreation director. "It was nice to see people who
got involved."
But despite the combined efforts, Kobosh remained missing as
nightfall descended on the park.
"The darker it got, the more nervous I got," Moore said.
Shortly after 9 p.m., township police officers Tim Schafnitz
and Virginia Kovalcik, along with Kovalcik's husband, Steve,
an off-duty Sterling Heights firefighter, combed a section of
the park near 22 Mile Road and Ryan. Schafnitz was armed with
a thermal imaging camera, which records body heat.
"The fog was coming in and it was pitch black," Kovalcik said.
"We just kept calling his name."
Suddenly, a voice responded from the darkness, and Kovalcik
got a glimpse of a figure about 75 yards away.
"He was standing there with his arms up in the air like he was
being arrested," the officer said. "He would stand up and
squat back down."
With the camera, Schafnitz was able to locate Kobosh and the
officers found the man crouched in a small pit.
"He started crying," Kovalcik said. "One of the first things
he said was, 'Am I going to jail?' I think he might have been
afraid of the police officers."
After the officers comforted Kobosh, he told them why he
wandered away.
"He said he was looking for a deer and he fell into a hole and
hurt his knee," Kovalcik said.
Kobosh was examined by paramedics, but he suffered only
superficial cuts and scrapes from his ordeal. Officers soon
reunited him with family members.
Earlier this summer, the Shelby Township Community Foundation
awarded the police department $1,300 to implement the Law
Enforcement Awareness Network.
The program provides training for police officers,
firefighters and other emergency personnel on how to deal with
persons who have disabilities that are not apparent to
observers.
Shelby Township police hosted the first session on Monday,
hours before they were called upon to search for Kobosh.
"This was a textbook case," Maccarone said.
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