NEW IBERIA, La. — Two sanitation workers on their usual route are being hailed as heroes after noticing something unusual and ended up saving a 10-year-old girl who had been abducted.
Dion Merrick and Brandon Antoine saw a car they noticed from an Amber Alert parked tucked away in a field Monday morning, KATC reported.
“Something told me, ‘Just look,’” Merrick said. “I said, ‘What’s that car doing way ducked off in the field like that?’’'
Merrick quickly recognized the vehicle.
“And he was like, ‘B, you know what I just saw ... man, that looks like that silver Nissan on the Amber Alert,’” Antoine said.
The day earlier, Jalisa Lasalle was reported missing from a family member’s house around 1 or 2 p.m., KATC reported.
The men used the truck to block in the car and called police.
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“People act like they see stuff but they don’t want to say nothing,” Merrick said on a video livestreamed on social media. “But she’s safe now. Thank God man, because I got a little girl. I’m on my job doing what I got to do.”
Michael Sereal, 33, was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping of a child and failure to register as a sex offender.
In the background of Merrick’s video, Sereal could be heard saying, “Why are you doing this to me?” as he was being taken into custody.
Their employer is proud.
“We couldn’t be prouder of Dion and Brandon,” Roddie Matherne, CEO of Pelican, said in an email to ABC News. “In fact, All of our Pelican Waste team have been heroically working without fail during the pandemic quietly, professionally, and consistently serving the communities where we collect garbage and debris. They often respond in other ways while on the road. This was an exceptional thing that may very well have saved a little girl’s (life).”
A crowd sourced funding account was set up to reward Merrick and Antoine for their actions.
“I feel blessed just to find her alive and everything,” Merrick told CBS News. “It’s just a wonderful feeling.”