Missing teen found after using hand signal to indicate distress

A missing teenage girl from North Carolina was found in Kentucky on Thursday after she used a hand signal seen on social media to indicate domestic violence. 

In a statement posted to Facebook, the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office in Kentucky announced on Friday that it arrested 61-year-old James Herbert Brick at an intersection after police were dispatched to observe a silver-colored Toyota. 

The sheriff’s office said a person called 911 after the unnamed 16-year-old girl made hand gestures seen on TikTok to represent “I need help.”  Authorities were also told that the girl “appeared to be in distress” and that a man was driving the car.

The person followed the vehicle as it traveled southbound on an interstate to update authorities on where the car was. Once the person said the vehicle exited the interstate, authorities conducted a traffic stop on the car and began investigating the occupants, the statement said.

When authorities investigated, they learned that the 16-year-old had been reported missing by her parents in Asheville, N.C., on Tuesday.

The girl told authorities that she and Brick traveled through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and into Ohio, where he had relatives. The two left Ohio after Brick’s relatives realized that the girl was underage, the statement said.

Brick left the state traveling southbound, and the girl began trying to get other drivers’ attention to call authorities.

During their investigation, the sheriff’s office also said they found a phone Brick had that “allegedly portrayed a juvenile female in a sexual manner.”

Brick is charged with unlawful imprisonment and possession of matter sex performance by a minor over the age of 12 but under age 18, authorities said. 

Authorities didn’t say exactly what the gesture was. But according to NBC News, the Canadian Woman’s Foundation introduced a gesture — a hand up with the palm out, tucking the thumb into the palm, and then folding the fingers over the thumb — for women to use as a signal for distress.