A 16-year-old girl was rescued in Kentucky, US, after using a special hand gesture. She learned the gesture from the social media app TikTok to signal that she was in trouble.
A motorist saw the girl making the signal and notified an emergency center. He told them that he observed a young lady in a car, and she appeared to be in distress. When police checked the car, the girl was still giving the signal, but the officers didn't know what it meant.
The signal, turning the palm outwards and closing the fingers around a tucked thumb (see video), has been demonstrated by users on TikTok and also by non-profit organizations like the Canadian Women's Foundation. The signal is a way for an abused person to tell someone that they're in trouble without alerting the abuser or leaving a digital trace.
Police got the girl out of the car safely, and they arrested the driver, a 61-year-old man coming from the same town as the girl.