A terrified 16-year-old girl was saved from a kidnapper in Michigan after a gas station employee saw her mouth the word ‘help’ to him, police said.
The unidentified teen was waiting at her bus stop around 7am on April 13 in Hamtramck when Donald Fields allegedly placed something on her back and forced her into a van at gunpoint, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
While the girl was snatched, another girl, who also attends Frontier International Academy, watched in horror and called 911 immediately while Fields drove away, prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors said that Fields, 48, allegedly sexually assaulted the innocent girl inside the van before pulling the vehicle into a gas station parking lot and walking with her inside the convenience store, authorities said.
Officers with the Hamtramck Police Department immediately set out to hunt for the missing teen at her school, and were soon made aware she was at the gas station after several of her fellow students tracked her location on their cellphones.
Responding officers then told other police units to rush to the station, where they found Fields walking out of the door and the girl inside with the heroic clerk who brought her to safety.
Abdulrahman Abohatem was behind the counter that morning when Fields and the girl entered the store as the suspect asked the minor to purchase cigarettes for him, police said.
‘When he ask her to pay for the cigarettes, I stop and go there’s something wrong. And she mouthed to me, like with no sound, “help”,’ Abohatem told WXYZ-TV.
He then came out from behind the protective glass, confronted Fields, and brought the girl to safety.
‘I go out, I kick him out, I ask the girl go behind me,’ he explained before adding: ‘I feel good when you save somebody. Sixteen years old – she is [a] child.’
Police bodycam footage captured the moment officers pulled up to the gas station and arrested Fields.
He was seen walking out of the store by himself when officers told him to put his hands behind his back.
They then brought him over to the hood of a patrol car and latched the handcuffs on his wrists.
Fields then showed officers where his car, a BMW SUV, was parked by the gas pumps and was told he was being detained.
Fields responded: ‘For what?’
‘I’ll tell you in a second,’ a male officer replied as two others walked into the store.
Other chilling footage captured the moment Fields allegedly snagged the girl at the bus stop.
The police department blurred out the girl in the clip, but in the very beginning, a man, who appeared to be Fields, grabbed her.
He then sped away in the car as the other girl came running before calling the police.
Fields was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, one count of felonious assault, and three counts of felony firearm.
He was also charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm because he has a criminal history of sexual assault charges, Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi said on Thursday.
He entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment and is being held without bond.
Fields is scheduled to appear in court next on April 30 at 9am. If convicted as charged, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Meanwhile, the teenage victim is back home safe with her family, who are beyond thankful that Abohatem stepped in to save her from further harm.
The prosecutor’s office commended the young girl for her fast thinking during such a terrifying situation.
‘Our young survivor in this case was simply walking in broad daylight when she was viciously attacked and sexually assaulted,’ Worthy said.
‘Despite what she had just gone through, her quick thinking and mental toughness saved her life. We cannot reverse what happened to her, but we can work hard to bring justice to he.’
