The workers saw the car in a field and blocked it.
Two plumbing workers in Louisiana are hailed as heroes for rescuing a 10-year-old girl kidnapped from a relative’s home.
The girl, Jalisa Lasalle, was missing at the home of a relative in New Iberia between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM Sunday, according to New Iberia police. Investigators initially thought she was in “imminent danger,” and an Amber Alert was issued in the middle of the night detailing a 2012 gray Nissan Altima in which Jalisa had last been seen.
Pelican Waste & Debris workers Dion Merrick and Brandon Antoine knew something was off when they spotted a silver sedan in the middle of a field Monday morning about 20 miles away in St. Martin Parish, picking up their trash.
“Something told me … I said, what’s that car doing in the field like that?” Merrick said in a video posted to Facebook Live.
They then used the garbage truck to stop the car from escaping and called the police, Merrick said.
“I blocked the truck, [making] sure he couldn’t get out, ”he said.
After a responsive officer praised the men for their actions, Merrick began to cry.
“She’s safe now,” Merrick said, adding that he has a little girl of his own.
Pelican CEO Roddie Matherne praised his employees in a statement to ABC News.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Dion and Brandon,” Matherne said in an email. In fact, all of our Pelican Waste team has worked heroically without fail during the pandemic, calmly, professionally and consistently with the communities where we collect trash and debris. They often respond in other ways while on the move. This was an exception. very well managed to save that of a little girl [life].
The video shows 33-year-old suspect Michael Sereal being led away from the silver sedan by the police. At one point you hear him shout, “Why are you doing this to me?”
He is an acquaintance of one of the girl’s relatives, ABC Lafayette, Louisiana, the WATC affiliate reported.
Sereal, of New Iberia, is currently being held without bond in the Iberia Parish Jail on charges of aggravated child abduction and failure to register as a sex offender, according to online prison records. He is listed in the New Iberia sex offenders database for a conviction for a juvenile’s carnal knowledge.
It is unclear whether Sereal has retained a lawyer.
According to Louisiana State Police, the child was assessed by medical personnel after it was found. A photo shared on the plumbing company’s Facebook page after the rescue shows her posing next to Merrick and Antoine.
The investigation is underway, police said.