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The boy's mother told police that her son had run off from The Monarch apartment complex shortly after 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, East Rutherford Deputy Chief Phillip Taormina said.
She said she ran after him but lost the boy about 20 feet in the marshland behind the development off eastbound Route 3 across from the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Given the terrain and frigid temperatures, officers requested K-9s from the Bergen County Sheriff's and Maywood police departments along with borough firefighters and EMS, Taormina said.
High winds prevented the deployment of the department's drone, so police also called for a New Jersey State Police helicopter to help search the marshes and around Berry's Creek, the deputy chief said.
Maywood's bloodhound ultimately began tracking along the North Service Road on the opposite side of Route 3 near the New York Giants Quest Diagnostic Training Center, where security cameras captured images of the boy running by, he said.
The search was still going when the boy called his mother from Lyndhurst around 1:30 a.m., Taormina said.
Lyndhurst police responded to take custody of the boy, who was cleared by township EMS before being reunited with his mother, he said.
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