WILTON – Police found a teenager late Thursday huddled under a picnic table in the gazebo at Bass Park on Lake Road. The 17-year-old girl had gone for a run earlier in the evening and hadn’t returned home, police said.

The girl was unresponsive and hypothermic when Wilton officer Robert Cole found her, said interim Chief Ed Leahy. The girl’s family had called police to report the teenager missing.

Cole responded to the missing person’s complaint at 11:09 p.m. and, together with the girl’s family, checked with her friends, Leahy said.

When Cole traced her route, he found the girl under the table, he said.

He called for an ambulance and while waiting for it to arrive, Cole covered the girl with his coat and a blanket, Leahy said.

The victim’s family arrived with more blankets and hugged the victim to try and rewarm her while waiting for the ambulance, the chief said.

At the hospital, after the teen’s core body temperature had been brought back up to normal, she told Cole that she had gone for a run and got caught in a heavy downpour, Leahy said.

“Cold and wet, she ran into the gazebo,” he said. “Still cold, she crawled under the table. That was the last thing she remembers.”

“This was a very good example of what can happen when an officer cares,” Leahy said.