NYPD Officers Find Missing Autistic Teen in Coney Island

A group of police officers searching for non-verbal, autistic teenager who was reported missing Saturday found him running naked in the water at a Coney Island beach.

While canvassing the Brooklyn school where he was reported missing, officers received a report of a naked teenager running on the beach at West 12 Street.

Four officers converged on the beach and were directed to an area where they spotted the 14-year-old boy walk out of the water and then run back in.

The officers stood at the shore line and tried to encourage the boy to return to the beach. He ignored them and stood in waist-high water.

Sgt. Christopher Vincenti and two officer stripped down to their pants and undershirts and waded into the water and persuaded the teen to return to the beach.

The boy was hospitalized Saturday night. His condition wasn't immediately known.

In 2013, 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo who was also autistic, ran off from his school in Queens and was found dead in a river months later. A law passed after his death requiring schools to install audible door alarms.

The city's Department of Education didn't respond to a request for comment Saturday night.

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