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A hand signal created for women in abusive relationships has just been effectively used in a real-life situation.

A 16-year-old girl reported missing two days prior was driving on the highway in Kentucky, where she was flashing other drivers with the special hand signal.

It only took one driver to recognise that the hand gesture was not a simple wave, but a way to indicate that she needed immediate help.

The crafty hand signal, created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, spread across social media in an attempt to help domestic abuse victims stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The man recognised the girl’s signal of tucking her thumb into her palm before closing her fingers over it from TikTok and immediately set out to ring the alarm bells:

Image: Women’s Funding Network

After calling 911 and explaining the signal to the police, who were unfamiliar with it, the sheriff’s deputies pulled the car over to investigate, reported The New York Times.

That is when they learned that the girl’s parents had reported her missing:

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the driver, James Herbert Brick, 61, of Cherokee, N.C., and charged him with unlawful imprisonment. Mr. Brick, who the sheriff’s office said had pornographic images of a child on his phone, also faces a child pornography charge.

The girl and Mr. Brick are “acquaintances” but are not related, said Gilbert Acciardo, public affairs officer for the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl told investigators that she had traveled with Mr. Brick through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, where he had family. He left the family after they learned that the girl was a minor and that she had been reported missing by her family. She said she began trying to get motorists’ attention as they traveled south from Ohio.

Laurel County Sheriff’s Office released a statement shortly after:

It is assumed that Mr Brick thought the girl was merely waving at the passing cars.

One officer admitted that it was “probably the best thing I’ve seen come along in the 48 years I’ve been a patrol officer”:

The Canadian Women’s Foundation advises that anyone who sees the signal should not necessarily immediately call the authorities, but should instead reach out safely, if possible, to the person who used it.

The signal does not correspond to anything in American Sign Language, so it relies on general awareness to be effective.

This video demonstrates how to use the signal via a video call:

Angeline Hartmann, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said that this particular girl’s situation is rather amazing:

“We always say it only takes one person to bring a missing child home,” Ms. Hartmann said. “This was that one person, and you never know when you’re going to be that one person. In this case, she made a signal, that person paid attention and a call was made.”

Now you know.

[source:newyorktimes]