Authorities had been capable of finding a lacking 16-year-old woman after she caught the eye of a driver by utilizing hand gestures popularized on the social media platform TikTok.
In line with the Laurel County Sheriff’s Workplace in Kentucky, the woman was inside a silver-colored Toyota automotive when the driving force noticed her utilizing hand alerts identified on TikTok “to characterize violence at dwelling — I need assistance — home violence.”
After recognizing what the alerts meant and seeing that the teenager “seemed to be in misery,” the driving force known as 911, the sheriff’s workplace stated in an announcement.
The alert led to the arrest of 61-year-old James Herbert Brick of Cherokee, North Carolina, Thursday afternoon whereas driving close to a Kentucky interstate.
{The teenager} discovered contained in the automotive Brick was driving had been reported lacking by her dad and mom in Asheville, North Carolina, Tuesday morning, Laurel County Sheriff John Root stated in an announcement.
The woman additionally informed authorities she had traveled with Brick via North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, in line with the assertion.
Investigators additionally situated a cellphone in Brick’s possession that “allegedly portrayed a juvenile feminine in a sexual method,” Root stated.
Brick is going through expenses for illegal imprisonment and possession of fabric exhibiting a intercourse efficiency by a minor over the age of 12 however underneath age 18, in line with the sheriff’s workplace. He is being held on the Laurel County Correctional Heart on a $10,000 money bond.
The sheriff’s workplace didn’t describe the signal utilized by the teenager, however a hand gesture first launched by the Canadian Girls’s Basis final yr has been adopted by many globally who must discreetly ask for assist or present they’re in misery.
The gesture is a hand up, palm out, with the thumb tucked, then folding the fingers down.
