Help Sought in Finding Ailing Man

Escondido police are seeking help in finding a 75-year-old Alzheimer’s disease victim who walked away from Palomar Hospital on Wednesday.

James R. Ingram, who had been taken to the hospital by police earlier Wednesday, was last seen about 6 p.m., said Lt. Ron Lepanto of the Escondido Police Department.

Ingram tried once to leave the hospital but was stopped by staff members, buy he later evaded them and escaped from the emergency room, Lepanto said.

“Our emergency room is a very busy place, and he must have seen an opportunity when he could slip away when the nurses were busy,” said a Palomar Hospital nursing supervisor who declined to give her name.

Police had brought Ingram to the hospital for evaluation after they found him wandering in a “confused and disoriented condition” near a motel where he was living, Lepanto said.

Police described Ingram as a 6-foot-tall, 140-pound white man, who is mostly bald but has light brown hair on the sides of his head and a light complexion. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt, brown polyester slacks and brown shoes.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Escondido police.