Solar Panel Installer Finds Missing 5-Year-Old With Autism In Plymouth

PLYMOUTH, MA — A solar panel installer stopped everything to help assist people nearby who said they were looking for a missing 5-year-old girl with autism. Now police are calling Jake Manna a hero for finding the little girl Wednesday.

Manna was working in the Buttermilk Bay neighborhood on Wednesday when police say he heard people nearby were searching for a 5-year-old girl with autism. Officers say Manna stopped everything and helped look.

Officers say he walked down a rural trail that ended at a stream and noticed a diaper and t-shirt in the stream. He then ran down the stream to a marsh where he found the young girl up to her waist in water.

Manna tried to call to her, but she wouldn't listen and continued walking into deeper water. Police say Manna then ran out and "put her over his shoulder" carrying her out to safety.

Officers say Manna isn't from Plymouth and didn't know the area, but added that they were happy he chose to look down the path he did. He was awarded a certificate and Command Coin from Chief Dana Flynn and Captain LeBretton Thursday.

"He is the nicest, most unassuming young man that one could meet...He also has great hair!" Plymouth police said in a Facebook post while joking that Manna deserves to "go viral."

"That girl had a guardian angel yesterday...and his name was Jake," Officer Vinnie Roth, who was responding to the original call said.