Fremont

Missing Fremont Man With Special Needs Found Safe

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A Fremont family is back together and feeling extra thankful after police say a young man with special needs went missing for more than 12 hours.

Police said the man, later identified as 20-year-old Eleandri Palisoc, was found 40 miles away in Pinole and reunited with his family right in time for Thanksgiving.

It was at an intersection in Pinole, where Palisoc was seen going in and out of traffic Thanksgiving morning.

“Passersby were worried he was going to get hit by a car and when they stopped to talk to them, all he could tell them was 'mommy and burger,' so they called us to assist,” said officer Alphoso Black with the Pinole Police Department.

Black said he showed up and added he quickly realized Palisoc was going to need help.

Black told NBC Bay Area that he drives around with stuffed animals and blankets, handing them out to anyone in need.

“We’ll give the blanket, just the blanket to somebody and we’ll keep the teddy bear if somebody is cold. We just do whatever we can here in Pinole. It’s the Pinole way,” he said.

Black handed Palisoc a teddy bear, sat him in a warm car and even bought him breakfast as he tried to figure out who he was and where he came from.

“We would say hey what's your name? he would say 'name,' we would say where you from? he would just say ‘where you from?’” he said.

With no other information but a picture, Black went to social media for help and the responses came in within minutes.

It turns out, Fremont police had issued a nixle alert for Palisoc, who lives autism and is non-verbal, and was last seen boarding a BART train at the Fremont station Wednesday night.

Palisoc’s family picked him up at the Pinole police station Thursday morning.

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