A kidnapped 10-year-old girl was rescued thanks to two quick-thinking sanitation workers in Louisiana.
Dion Merrick and Brandon Antoine, who work for Pelican Waste, were working their regular shift Monday morning when they spotted a car matching the description of a sedan in an Amber Alert.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert for a 10-year-old girl reported missing by her family on Sunday.
When Merrick and Antoine spotted the sedan in a field on Monday, they pulled over their garbage truck on the wrong side of the highway to block the vehicle in and called 911.
Merrick streamed their heroics on Facebook Live and captured police taking the suspect into custody near St. Martin Parish.
The two men are being hailed as heroes for their quick action.
“I feel blessed just to find her alive and everything,” Merrick told CBS News on Wednesday. “It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
“Something told me, like just look, I said ‘what is that car doing in that field like that?’… Guess what, that’s the dude with the little girl,” Merrick said in his video. “That’s God.”
Merrick and Antoine, who are both fathers, say it was their duty to help the child.
“It was just one of those things you just had to do,” said Merrick, a Navy veteran and father of two.
Both men were praised by their company and the local police chief offered to buy them lunch. The story made global headlines.
“It’s a blessing,” Antoine said. “All over the world, I love it.”
The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Michael Roy Sereal and he was arrested for aggravated kidnapping, police said.
The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department wouldn’t confirm if the suspect is the same Michael Roy Sereal listed on the department’s online sex offender registry.
