Teenager used popular hand gesture on TikTok to warn of danger
A 16-year-old girl was saved when she used hand signals learned from TikTok to alert her that she was in danger. The teenager went missing from North Carolina, USA, on Tuesday, November 2. Two days later he was seen inside a car in Kentucky.
According to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, the teenager was inside a silver-colored Toyota car when a passerby noticed her making hand gestures that read “violence at home – I need help – domestic violence” on the social media platform TikTok. known to represent.
“The complainant told 911 that the woman was in distress. Furthermore, the complainant stated that the vehicle was being driven by a male person,” police said in a statement.
domestic violence signs
Isolation can increase the risk of violence at home. Use this discrete gesture during a video call to show that you need help:
1. Keeping the palm facing the other person, keep the hand up.
2. Put the thumb in the palm.
3. Bend the fingers down over the thumb. pic.twitter.com/gsIgSbXOmc— Halton Police (@HaltonPolice) 24 August 2021
The driver called 911 and continued to pursue Toyota, constantly updating police on its location.
Laurel County detectives and deputies managed to stop the vehicle as it exited a highway and found that the teenager had been reported missing by her parents earlier that week.
After a police stop, a 61-year-old man named James Herbert Brick was arrested.
The teenager, who has not been named, told police that she traveled with James Brick in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. In Ohio, he had relatives who felt “the woman in his custody was underage and reported missing.”
Police said, “When relatives of the male subject learned that the woman in his custody was underage and reported missing, the accused left to travel south to Ohio and the female juvenile decided to call 911. To attract the attention of motorists,” the police said.
The teenager used a hand gesture that has been popularized on social media to indicate domestic abuse. According to GuardianThe gesture is believed to have been introduced by the Canadian Women’s Foundation last year. It is used by women with caution that they are in danger when they cannot ask for help outright.
During the investigation, police found pictures on Mr Brick’s phone that purportedly depicted a teenage woman sexually. He has been charged with unlawful imprisonment and possession of material showing sexual performance by a minor who is over 12 years old but under 18 years of age.
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