When TikTok saves a life. On November 4, a 16-year-old girl was rescued from the back of a car on a road in Kentucky, United States. She managed to alert a motorist with a discreet wave of her hand.
By showing her palm with the thumb folded, then bending her fingers (see tweet below, Editor's note), the teenager managed to attract attention. Laurel County police said in a Nov. 6 statement that the motorist had contacted them, explaining that they recognized the gesture in question, which represents an alert for domestic violence.
He noticed that the victim "looked panicked" and was being led by an older man. After his call, police officers waited to see the affected vehicle pass in order to stop it as soon as it exited the highway. Once the police were able to check the passengers, they realized that the teenager had been declared missing by her parents a few days earlier. The man behind the wheel, James Herbet Brick, 61, has been charged with forcible confinement.
This story shows the effectiveness of this simple and discreet hand gesture. According to the Guardian, it was invented by the Canadian Women's Foundation, a Canadian organization that helps women, last year, and has been made popular on social media, including TikTok. The women concerned are invited to use it during a video call, for example, to make their situation known to their interlocutor without arousing suspicion.
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