MIAMI TOWNSHIP (CLERMONT COUNTY), Ohio -- What was supposed to be a typical afternoon walking the dog turned into a night at the park for 87-year-old Joseph Heiman.
A K-9 officer helped reunite the missing elderly man with his family after he fell on one of the trails Tuesday afternoon, dislocating his hip without any way to call for help.
Police say his wife called the Clermont County dispatch to report him as missing when he didn't return home. More than 50 people on the search-and-rescue crews from Clermont and Hamilton counties combed Miami Meadows Park for almost 12 hours after Heiman went missing.
Miami Township Fire Chief Steve Kelly said they found Heiman when one of the police K-9s heard Heiman's dog barking.
"Unfortunately, we've all heard the stories. A lot of these things don't go so well. This was a very positive outcome. The crews were just elated that this was going to be a rescue, and a successful one at that," Kelly said. "He was injured, but at the end of the day he was going to survive and do well with it."
Heiman was taken to the Bethesda North Hospital to be treated for his dislocated hip.
Kelly used the opportunity to remind people that it's always important to have a way to contact assistance if something like this happens to you.
