Authorities managed to find a missing 16-year-old girl after she caught the attention of a driver using hand gestures popular on social media platform TikTok.
According to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office in Kentucky, the girl was inside a silver-colored Toyota car when the driver asked her to “represent violence at home – I need help – domestic violence” with hands going on TikTok. using the signs.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that after identifying what the signs meant and noting that the teen was “in distress,” the driver called 911.
James Herbert Brick, 61, of Cherokee, North Carolina, was arrested Thursday afternoon while driving near the Kentucky interstate.
Laurel County Sheriff John Root said in a statement that the teenager found inside the Brick car was reported missing Tuesday morning by her parents in Asheville, North Carolina.
According to the statement, the girl also told officers that she had traveled with Brick through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.
Investigators also recovered a phone from Brick’s possession, which “allegedly depicted a teenage woman sexually,” Root said.
According to the sheriff’s office, Brick is facing charges of unlawful imprisonment and possession of material showing a sexual performance by a minor over the age of 12 but under the age of 18. He is being held at the Laurel County Correctional Center on a $10,000 cash bond.
The sheriff’s office did not describe the gesture used by the teen, but introduced the hand gesture for the first time. Canadian Women’s Foundation The past year has been adopted globally by many people who need to intelligently ask for help or show that they are in trouble.
Gesture is one hand up, palm out, thumb tucked in, then turning fingers down.