Missing Long Island man with autism found after assault in Manhattan

HARLEM, N.Y. (PIX11) -- New York City detectives found a missing Long Island man with autism, who had a history of making bomb threats when they responded to an altercation on West 125 Street Saturday night.

"My brother tried to give a different name," Bonnie Forbes, the sister of David Forbes, told PIX11 News Sunday. "The detective asked him to smile, and he saw he was missing some teeth on the top."

The smile matched some photos of David Forbes that were circulating.

The responding detective, Vincent Signoretti of the 26th Squad, had been driving around looking for Forbes, 38, after Erin Daly-Spano, an advocate for the missing at Hopealive845, appealed for help.

"They were looking for David and received a report of an assault," Daly-Spano said. "They saw David sitting on the ground. These officers actually brought him straight to Mount Sinai West Hospital. They stayed with him until the family arrived. And they went above and beyond to ensure the vulnerable adult would not leave the hospital."

Forbes has been living at the Judge Rotenberg Residential Center in Canton, Massachusetts, for more than ten years, according to his sister, because he has developmental delays and "attention-seeking" disorder that's caused him to e-mail bomb threats over the years, even to an NCIS base in the south.

"He was just picked up at the hospital, and he's on his way back to the facility," Bonnie Forbes told PIX11 News Sunday.

The man's family had been trying to track him for several days when he attempted to use his sister's credit card, which was reported missing. On Friday, Forbes unsuccessfully tried to use it in East Harlem.

Bonnie Forbes said her brother told her he had been staying in a Bronx shelter at one point and got into an altercation by a public pool.

Forbes's sister was very grateful the NYPD found her brother.

"I'm going to write a letter to the Commissioner," Bonnie Forbes said.