911 Caller Credited With Saving Teen Says He Doesn’t Know TikTok Signal, but Recognized Distress

A 911 caller who alerted police to a teen he believed was in danger says he did so because he saw the girl mouthing for help as she passed on the interstate in Kentucky last week.

Authorities have said that a driver called 911 after seeing the teen use a hand signal popularized on TikTok that indicates distress and that his actions led to the arrest of a child abduction suspect.

David Isaacs, 50, of Berea, Kentucky, says he made the call after a Toyota Corolla zipped by on I-75 and he saw a girl riding in the car mouth: “Help me. Help me.”

“I didn’t recognize a [hand] gesture,” Isaacs said Tuesday. “She was mouthing 'help me.' She said 'help me, help me,' twice. I think she even lip-synched call 911. ... It looked like she had been crying. I dropped back a couple of car lengths. She did keep putting her four fingers out the window.”