WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:
- A teenage girl who has been missing for several days was rescued after she caught the attention of a driver with a popular hand signal.
- The man who was driving the car she was in has been apprehended and is currently detained.
- The hand signal, first introduced by the Canadian Women’s Foundation last year as a signal for domestic violence, has been shared widely on TikTok as an SOS signal.
A missing 16-year-old girl was rescued by authorities after she alerted another driver with the SOS hand signal popularized on the social media platform TikTok.
A driver reportedly noticed that the girl inside a silver-colored Toyota car was using a hand signal known to alert others that they are experiencing violence or distress and are in need of help.
The Laurel County sheriff’s office in Kentucky said that the driver called 911 after recognizing the hand signal and observing that the teen “appeared to be in distress.”
Officials were able to arrest 61-year-old James Herbert Brick of Cherokee, North Carolina on Thursday afternoon while they were driving near a Kentucky interstate.
The teen was found inside the car that Brick was driving. She told the officers that they had been traveling through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio.
According to Laurel County Sheriff John Root, the teen’s parents in Asheville, North Carolina had reported her missing on Tuesday morning.
Brick faces charges for unlawful imprisonment and possession of material showing a sex performance by a minor over the age of 12 but under age 18. A phone in his possession was found to have “allegedly portrayed a juvenile female in a sexual manner,” Root stated. He is currently held on a $10,000 cash bond at the Laurel County Correctional Center.
The teen used a hand signal that was first introduced by the Canadian Women’s Foundation last year as a signal for domestic violence. It has since been adopted globally and shared widely on TikTok as a signal that someone can use to discreetly ask for help.
The gesture involves putting a hand up palm out, tucking the thumb in, then folding the rest of the fingers down over the thumb. A person can do it repeatedly to catch the attention of others who can help them.
Source: TODAY Parents
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