A non-verbal sign saved a young woman from a kidnapping.
A teenage girl who disappeared in the United States was found after making gestures with the hands that went viral on TikTok to show that she was in danger .
The disappearance of the minor had been reported by her parents in Asheville, North Carolina, last Tuesday, November 2. Two days later, she was seen inside a car in the state of Kentucky.
The young woman from 16 years alerted a driver of another vehicle of his situation for means of a hand gesture that was created for victims of domestic abuse to ask for help .
Authorities say they arrested a man from 61 years.
A non-verbal distress signal
The driver of a car traveling behind the who was transporting the young woman called the police when she saw that the passenger made gestures with her hands that the TikTok platform viralized and that serve to report a case of violence.
The gesture indicates “I need help, domestic violence” , according to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office in a statement posted on their Facebook page.
The person who called noted that the young woman “seemed to be still liked ”and that the driver was an older man.
The younger, who has not been named, told officers that she had traveled through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, where the The accused had relatives.
When the man’s relatives realized that the woman in their custody was a minor and reported missing, the defendant left Ohio heading south as the young woman began trying to get the attention of motorists.
Police arrested James Herbert Brick of 61 years old, from Cherokee, North Carolina, when driving near a Kentucky Interstate on Thursday, Nov. 4.
Viral on TikTok
The hand gesture is a manual, non-verbal sign that someone can use when they feel in danger, according to the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
The gesture is done in three steps: the victim lifts the hand with the palm outwards, then closes the thumb and finally closes the fingers encapsulating the thumb.
The campaign, called “signal for help”, went viral on social media at 2020, during the first lockdowns of the pandemic, in an attempt for addressing the rise in domestic violence.
The idea was to offer a way for victims of domestic abuse to ask for help using a non-verbal signal.
Videos showing the signs also gained momentum in the UK following the murder of Sarah Everard last March, which sparked a debate on the safety of women in the European country.
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