Lawrence County Deputies Use Drone to Locate Wanted Man

Lawrence County deputies used a drone equipped with thermal imaging to locate and arrest a wanted man who fled into a wooded area while trying to avoid capture on Thursday, January 8, according to reporting by NEWS 2. The man, 42-year-old Joshua Long, was wanted on a violation of probation stemming from a 2019 sentence for meth charges.

Deputies were attempting to serve the warrant when Long ran into nearby woods. With limited visibility on the ground, they deployed a drone with a FLIR camera, which detects body heat. Long was invisible on normal video, but the FLIR sensor revealed his position, which deputies described as “lighting up like a Christmas tree.”

The suspect was found hiding under a pile of leaves with two hands rising up when deputies asked him to show them. Deputies also recovered meth in the woods not far from where he was located. He was charged with his original probation violation, plus evading arrest and possession of meth, and taken into custody.