A Florida woman fearing for her life at 4am cleverly called 911 to order a pizza – signalling distress to the sharp dispatcher who immediately caught on, pinpointed her location and dispatched officers.
They arrived just in the nick of time and found the woman's attacker on top of her. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office swiftly made public the intense bodycam footage from the October 19 event, showing the police arriving to find a man attacking the screaming woman. In the harrowing video, the victim's cries for help are audible: "He's trying to rape me – can you help me."
As law enforcement intervenes, she utters a relieved "Thank God... Thank God!," reports the Mirror US. Luis Moncayo Hernandez, 27, was arrested at the scene, with the video capturing his face illuminated by a flashlight.
The victim had been held captive in a field when she ingeniously placed the call to the authorities, pretending to order a pizza to avoid alerting her captor. The dispatcher questioned if she knew she was calling the police, to which the woman confirmed yes.
Using advanced technology, the dispatcher was able to locate the woman and direct officers to the area behind a nursery where they were guided by the sound of loud music to the exact spot in the field.
"The victim in this case said she had known her assailant [and] that they had gone into the fernery to drink a couple of drinks, alcoholic beverages, and that's all it was supposed to be. However, during this outing, he did a line of cocaine and she said he did a 180 and said he became extremely violent, and wouldn't let her go and tried to rape her. The video again – speaks for itself," Sheriff Chitwood stated.
Sheriff Chitwood commended his police force and promptly made the footage of the incident public. "I am so proud of number one – of our victim – of having the where with all to be able to keep her wits and that information to our communication folks," said Sheriff Chitwood.
"Our communications folks to be able to decipher what was going on – and use technology to put our deputies in the general area of where she was. And obviously you can see the deputy's response and taking this scumbag into custody."
Moncayo Hernandez applied for asylum the day before the incident after entering illegally. Border Patrol has issued a detainer on Moncayo Hernandez.
He will face charges of attempted sexual battery, battery by strangulation and false imprisonment, which are all felony offences.
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