FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - An officer with the Fort Worth Police Department found a missing man early Monday morning, and helped save his life just before snow flurries moved into North Texas.

Roscoe Smith suffers from diabetes and memory issues. The 83-year-old man lives with his wife in the 5600 block of Eisenhower Drive. She called the police after discovering that Smith was missing from the home, just after midnight. Authorities assumed that Smith wandered away from home. Patrol units were dispatched to look for the man.

Sgt. Zoran Petrovic was one of those patrol officers. He just happened to stop his car in the 5700 block of East Rosedale Street, to get out and take a look around. At that exact location, he spotted the missing man in a ditch, tangled up in some brushy tree roots. Petrovic helped Smith get free from the roots and reach safety.

Smith was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and treated for hypothermia. Had Petrovic not stopped his vehicle at that exact place to get out and look, the story could have had a totally different outcome. Temperatures overnight dropped below freezing and light snow started falling in parts of the DFW area.

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