A 24-year-old man with autism, who went missing on a field trip to Prospect Park on Wednesday, has been found alive, police said.
Divers with the NYPD scuba team had suited up and were about to go on a grim search in a lake near East Drive on Thursday morning when they got word that Michael Yam had been found near the Brooklyn Bridge, cops said.
Someone who recognized Yam’s picture from news reports spotted him near Henry and Middagh Streets at the foot of the bridge on Thursday morning, police said. That person called 911 and officers came to pick him up, authorities said.
Yam was taken to Methodist Hospital for evaluation.
He was visiting the Brooklyn park with a group of developmentally disabled people when he and two others became separated from the group at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to law-enforcement sources.
The other two were quickly found, but Yam remained missing.
Police deployed a K-9 who took Yam’s scent from his mattress at his Crown Heights nursing home and scoured the park for him.
The canine followed the scent to a lake near East Drive, the sources said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Joe Tacopino