← NewsAll
Detroit gas station clerk intervened after teen mouthed 'help'
Summary
A Detroit gas station clerk stepped in after a 16-year-old silently mouthed ‘help,’ and police arrested a suspect who now faces multiple charges and is being held without bond.
Content
A clerk at a Sunoco station in Detroit intervened when a 16-year-old girl silently mouthed the word "help" to him while inside the store. Police say the girl had been taken earlier at gunpoint and brought to the gas station. Officers arrived and detained a 48-year-old suspect the same day. The clerk has since been publicly recognized and his local community is raising funds to assist him.
Key details:
- Officials reported the 16-year-old was allegedly abducted at gunpoint near a bus stop and another student called 911.
- The clerk, identified as Abdulrahman Abohatem, noticed the girl mouth "help," stepped between her and the suspect, and directed her behind him; the suspect fled the store.
- Hamtramck police arrested 48-year-old Donald James Joseph Arthur Fields on the day of the incident; prosecutors say he faces multiple charges including first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, felonious assault, and several firearm counts, and he is being held without bond.
- The clerk received a school award and members of the local Yemeni-American business community are raising money to help with his upcoming wedding.
Summary:
Officials say the teenager was allegedly taken at gunpoint and later brought to a Detroit gas station where a clerk intervened after she mouthed "help." The suspect is in custody and faces multiple charges. Undetermined at this time.
