A car crash victim who was found by a police drone lying unconscious with hypothermia in a six-foot ditch has been charged with drink driving.
Liam Collins, 28, failed a breath test when he was discharged from hospital, after he was found freezing to death 175 yards from a crashed car.
In the remarkable footage, the drone finds the man due to his body heat as he lies several feet off the main road where he had lost consciousness.
The drone was deployed after the man was spotted walking away from an accident on the A16 near Ludborough south of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where a car had flipped onto its side.
This is the dramatic moment a police drone finds the unconscious victim of a car crash lying in a freezing six-foot deep ditch in the pitch black
Police say the quick response may have saved the man’s life as hypothermia was setting in due to the freezing conditions.
A Lincolnshire Police spokeswoman confirmed the driver was breath-tested at the police station after being discharged from hospital, and said he also faces a charge of driving without insurance.
Desperate to find the driver of the car, Lincolnshire Police used their drone, equipped with thermal imaging, to search the scene as officers from Humberside Police searched by foot.
Within a few minutes the drone managed to find the driver unconscious in a six-foot deep ditch, 160 metres from where the accident had happened.
In the footage, a police officer is seen walking towards the man as he is directed by the drone pilot.
In the footage, a police officer is seen walking towards the man as he is directed by the drone pilot. When he finds him he calls for another officer who is seen running towards them as an ambulance is called
When he finds him he calls for another officer who is seen running towards them as an ambulance is called.
Without the drone, police were faced with searching the road and fields in the pitch black in freezing temperatures, hours before the sun rose just after 2am on February 24.
Sergeant Mike Templeman said: ‘We did extensive searches, but obviously we are very rural and it was very dark so you’re limited in what you can see.
‘The man was unresponsive and hypothermic when we found him.
‘Without the drone this search could have taken much longer. It possibly saved a man’s life,’ he said.
Within a few minutes the drone managed to find the driver (pictured top) unconscious in a six-foot deep ditch, 160 metres from where the accident had happened
Lincolnshire police officer @WoldsSgt, known as ‘Tempo’, was one of the first on the scene and tweeted pictures and video of the amazing rescue.
The Lincolnshire Police drone team praised the quick thinking by Tempo which helped find the victim.
It tweeted: ‘Thanks to @WoldsSgt for the request that may well have saved his life’
The police response was also praised by Lincolnshire Police deputy chief constable Craig Naylor who said: ‘Great work Tempo and drone pilot.’