By Suzie Ziegler
BOULDER, Colo. — A Colorado police officer is being praised for his compassionate response for helping guide a woman with dementia back home after she wandered off.
The woman’s husband had called police earlier this month to report his wife missing, according to the Boulder Police Department. The 78-year-old woman was wearing a tracker so police were able to find her easily.
Officer David Kaufman approached the woman, but she refused his assistance, police said. Instead, Kaufman walked with her for “quite a long time” until she got tired and accepted a ride home.
The encounter was caught on an officer’s body camera.
“June does not want to stop so I think we’re just going to walk with her,” an officer is heard saying.
According to FOX 31, Kaufman and seven others, including a mental health specialist, spent about an hour walking and getting to know her.
“I have an 81-year-old father who suffers from dementia and I’m aware of what could be happening at any moment and how tenuous it is,” Kaufman told FOX 31. “It was definitely personal to me to get that person back to her husband.”
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