The two Pelican Waste and Debris workers took action when they recognized the car she was taken in after seeing the vehicle depicted in an Amber Alert in a field during her Monday morning garbage route.
“Something said to me, ‘Just look.’ I said, ‘What is that car doing when it enters the field like that?’ Dion Merrick said.
“And he said, ‘B, you know what I just saw … man, it looks like that silver Nissan in Amber Alert,'” recalled Brandon Antoine.
Merrick immediately started a live broadcast on Facebook when he spotted the Nissan in an empty field, reports KATC. The car matched the description of the Amber Alert sent the night before.
“I called 911 at the same time, supported my [garbage] “said Merrick.” I spoke to the 911 operator and she basically told me that it would be about a minute before a police officer came on the scene. “
Both men are parents and say that what happened hits close to home. They said the decision to get involved was obvious.
“Thank God, man, because I have a little girl. I’m at my job doing what I have to do, ”said Merrick on the live broadcast.
The suspect, Michael Sereal, 33, is listed in the parish’s database of sex offenders and was convicted in 2016.
In Merrick’s live broadcast video, Sereal could be heard screaming “Why are you doing this to me?” when the police took him into custody.
Jalisa Lasalle, 10, disappeared from a relative’s house between 1 pm and 2 pm the day before the day the men located the suspect vehicle.
She is now safe because of the workers who decided not to look the other way.
Pelican CEO Roddie Matherne praised his employees in a statement to ABC News.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Dion and Brandon,” said Matherne by email. “In fact, our entire Pelican Waste team has been working heroically without fail during the pandemic, silently, professionally and consistently, serving the communities where we collect trash and rubbish. They usually respond in other ways during the trip. That was an exceptional thing that may well have saved a girl’s life [life]. “
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