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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Hi, guys, Nancy Grace here,

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Speaker 1: Crime Online dot Com and Crime Stories at Fox Nation

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Speaker 1: and Series X one eleven. You know, it's very rare

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Speaker 1: that we have a truly happy ending. But today, because

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Speaker 1: of a good samaritan, a hero who intervened a little

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Speaker 1: ten year old girl kidnapped by a registered sex offender

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Speaker 1: has been saved. Listen, bro, I was on my treasure Rock.

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Speaker 1: I just see in this great call parked in the

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Speaker 1: field there was a duel who had a little teen

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Speaker 1: year old girl. I just saved the little girl of life. Bro,

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Speaker 1: I just saved the little girl of life. Bro. Thank god, Bro,

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Speaker 1: you got him. Now with me, that hero Dion Mary,

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Speaker 1: mister Merrick, thank you for being with us, Thank you

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Speaker 1: for having me on. Oh that it's my pleasure and

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Speaker 1: honor to speak to you. Tell me what happened that day? Uh?

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Speaker 1: It was. It was a day like I'd never forget.

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Speaker 1: I was, you know, on my trash route, just you know,

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Speaker 1: picking up We was just picking up trash and I

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Speaker 1: noticed a great a silver Nis sign car parked off

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Speaker 1: in the field. And that morning, around one thirty I

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Speaker 1: got an AMB alert over my phone showing the description

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Speaker 1: of the car, the suspect and the victim. So I see,

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Speaker 1: I noticed the car, and I told my hopper, that's

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Speaker 1: the guy who rides with me. Uh see. That was like,

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Speaker 1: that's that's the car that the suspect was in, because

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Speaker 1: it's silver and it's Nisign, same meek and model. So

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Speaker 1: something just hit me and said back up. So as

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Speaker 1: I was backing up, I was I called nine one

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Speaker 1: one because I told I told mister Brendon Antoine, I said, oh,

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Speaker 1: this is a car, and I didn't hesitate to call

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Speaker 1: nine one one. So I was on the phone with

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Speaker 1: nine one one and I backed up, blocked the drive away,

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Speaker 1: and I popped my air brakes and as soon as

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Speaker 1: I popped my air brakes and made a noise, so

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Speaker 1: the suspect opened the door and we both recognized that's

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Speaker 1: the guy. And I was still on the phone with

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Speaker 1: the nine one one operator. So the nine one nine

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Speaker 1: one one operator immediately dispatched the deputies from Saint Martin Parish,

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Speaker 1: and after that, pretty much not less than a minute,

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Speaker 1: the deputy was there. They apprehended the suspect and the

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Speaker 1: little girl. She was safe and she was alive, and

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Speaker 1: that was That was my main thing. That the little

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Speaker 1: girl was alife us where he was, he was most

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Speaker 1: likely going to kill her. Oh you know what mister

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Speaker 1: Merrick guys with me is Geon Merrick, who says, quote something,

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Speaker 1: told me, what's that car doing off in the field

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Speaker 1: like that? That's a dude with a little girl. And boy,

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Speaker 1: was he right. I'm looking at this field that you're

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Speaker 1: talking about, and it's surrounded by trees. It's out. You're

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Speaker 1: you're joining me from Louisiana today. Correct, man, tell me

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Speaker 1: about the area, and there's a lot of water around it.

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Speaker 1: I'm very familiar with Louisiana. What part of Louisiana are

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Speaker 1: you in. I'm actually in your Bury, Louisiana. But it

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Speaker 1: happened a little north of Saint Martin, not too far

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Speaker 1: from us. That's how you know, the parish to the

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Speaker 1: left of us. But he's like, I noticed it because

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Speaker 1: normally hunters normally be in trucks and they have their

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Speaker 1: trailers with their full wheelers and they're going hunting. But

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Speaker 1: for a car to be so far in those woods

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Speaker 1: like that, it was like a sore thumb, you know,

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Speaker 1: like it just stuck out, you know, And I was like, no,

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Speaker 1: this can't be right with the card doing we in

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Speaker 1: this field that you know this ten year old little

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Speaker 1: girl ten years old. I'm thinking about my children, mister America,

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Speaker 1: have a twin boy and girl and they've just turned thirteen.

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Speaker 1: But at ten years old, I'm thinking my little girl

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Speaker 1: out in a car with a registered sex offender out

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Speaker 1: in the middle of a field. The ten year old

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Speaker 1: little girl had been reported missing from the family home

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Speaker 1: on Monday afternoon, last seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.

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Speaker 1: But it was early the next morning, before seven am

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Speaker 1: then mister Merrick, Dion Merrick and mister Antoine spotted the

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Speaker 1: vehicle while out working their shift. You know what, you

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Speaker 1: know the statistics, mister Merrick that within seventy two hours

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Speaker 1: a child that has been kidnapped under these circumstances is dead.

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Speaker 1: Mister Merrick. Merrick takes swift action, using his garbage truck

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Speaker 1: to block the Nissan from exiting, to stop it from

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Speaker 1: escaping and called nine one one. The registered sex offender,

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Speaker 1: Michael Cereal, thirty three years old, is now behind bars

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Speaker 1: accused of aggravated kidnapping. Also, mister Merrick took cell phone

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Speaker 1: video which I know is going to come in handy

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Speaker 1: at trial. Mister Merrick. When you look back on it,

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Speaker 1: I really think it was a miracle. I do, because

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Speaker 1: you could have just kept on driving. You could have

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Speaker 1: been playing with your phone, you could have been talking

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Speaker 1: to your partner. A million things could have happened to

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Speaker 1: keep you from seeing that silver Niee San parked out

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Speaker 1: in the field, but you looked. It's my biggest gig

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Speaker 1: away from it. A lot of people, you know, everybody's

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Speaker 1: living their daily lives, and everybody wants to rush through life,

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Speaker 1: you know, at one hundred miles per minute, but sometimes

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Speaker 1: you just need to take a take a little time

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Speaker 1: just to notice it surrounding. If you see something out

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Speaker 1: of place, you say something. That is my That is

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Speaker 1: my motto what I'm going to live for the rest

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Speaker 1: of my life. If you see something, say something, don't

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Speaker 1: be afraid to actually open your mouth and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: this is not right. A lot of people always not

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Speaker 1: concerning me. It's not my family member, it's not you know,

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Speaker 1: and that's that's wrong. We're all Americans, we all love

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Speaker 1: each other, you know. We we got to just do

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Speaker 1: the right thing from now on, you know, as a people.

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Speaker 1: Time stories with sanitas like a car look suspicious inside

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Speaker 1: that car are missing ten year old little girl. Dan

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Speaker 1: Merrick says he had a weird feeling in the early

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Speaker 1: morning hours as he took his route along Burton Plantation Highway.

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Speaker 1: Was that morning like every other morning for you, mister Merrick? Uh? No,

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Speaker 1: ma'm I kind of felt something was different then too.

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Speaker 1: It was it was God. I'm gonna just be honest

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Speaker 1: with you. It was God. Because I was supposed to

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Speaker 1: go on another route to another location, but since a

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Speaker 1: driver didn't have a hopper, we uh the other guy,

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Speaker 1: he just did both of the routes, you know, and

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Speaker 1: then I just did the other guy's route who didn't

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Speaker 1: have a hopper. So, like I said, it was just

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Speaker 1: it was just God, you know, put me in the

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Speaker 1: right place at the right time and use me as

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Speaker 1: a vessel, you know. And I appreciate him for doing that.

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Speaker 1: But saving somebody's life like that, so you weren't even

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Speaker 1: supposed to be there, basically, No, I was supposed to

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Speaker 1: be on another route, but like I said, a hopper

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Speaker 1: didn't show up and the guy didn't have a hopper,

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Speaker 1: so I just did his route. I did basically three

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Speaker 1: routes that morning, and that was basically my first route

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Speaker 1: starting off. You know, so I would, like I said,

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Speaker 1: it would just go wanted me to find that little girl,

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Speaker 1: and you would saying the amber alert earlier, so you

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Speaker 1: knew the car looked like the one in the amber alert. Yes, ma'a.

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Speaker 1: You know when you look back on it, and I

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Speaker 1: understand the little girl was crying, crying for joy when

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Speaker 1: she was rescued. Tell me about what you saw when

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Speaker 1: the little girl was rescued. I just I just seen

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Speaker 1: the little girl. She was just so overwhelmed knowing that

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Speaker 1: you know, the officers and the subject was apprehended, and

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Speaker 1: she was just she was just so like getting shot.

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Speaker 1: Because you have to understand, she was a ten year

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Speaker 1: old little girl. She basically didn't exactly what was going on,

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Speaker 1: but she just knows she was away from our family,

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Speaker 1: and like I said, that was just it was just

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Speaker 1: a devastating time for her and she might have to be,

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Speaker 1: you know, go through therapy and stuff because I know,

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Speaker 1: a dramatic situation like that, Uh, it's gonna it's gonna

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Speaker 1: affect her whole life, you know. So I'm just praying

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Speaker 1: for the family and uh, you know, I just pretty

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Speaker 1: you can get some you know, some help or counseling,

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Speaker 1: you know, somebody to talk to, because it's going to

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Speaker 1: be as a dramatic incident that went on with our

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Speaker 1: family and the suspect. You know the company that you

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Speaker 1: work for, Pelican Waste. The CEO, Ronnie Mathern states how

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Speaker 1: proud he is of you, mister Merrick and mister Antoine,

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Speaker 1: and I guess he is. The guy is now in custody.

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Speaker 1: If convicted, the registered sex offender could be sentenced to

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Speaker 1: life in prison with no parole, no probation or suspension

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Speaker 1: of sentence. Now, this guy's already a registered sex offender.

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Speaker 1: He didn't take this little girl to go take her

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Speaker 1: on a walk in the park. He took her to

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Speaker 1: molest term as if he didn't learn the first time.

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Speaker 1: For Pete's sake, Um, did you get a look at

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Speaker 1: the guy, mister Merrick, Yes, now, because he looks like

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Speaker 1: a big guy. He's pretty big, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: people don't understand, like got like what I did. Basically,

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Speaker 1: I basically put my life in jeopardy because this guy

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Speaker 1: pretty much had a gun and everything he could have shot.

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Speaker 1: He could have shot me and my co worker you know,

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Speaker 1: but at the same time, I wasn't I have a

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Speaker 1: little girl, I have a son, and like I was

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Speaker 1: thinking about my kids and stuff. I wasn't thinking about

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Speaker 1: old if this guy shoots me or anything. But like

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Speaker 1: I said, I just I'm just so happy I did

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Speaker 1: the right procedures, like Call of ninety one, actually waiting

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Speaker 1: before I got a destruct you know, for law enforcements

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Speaker 1: to take action before I actually got a destrust because,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I pretty much jeopardized my life to

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Speaker 1: see another life. And I didn't hesitate or didn't think

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Speaker 1: twice to do it, you know. The thirty three year

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Speaker 1: old arrested in custody charged with aggravated kidnapping mister Dion

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Speaker 1: Merrick with me, He says, quote, She's safe now, thank God,

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Speaker 1: because I've got a little girl. I'm on my job

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Speaker 1: doing what I've got to do. You know what, Thank God,

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Speaker 1: mister Merrick, you were there that day and you saved

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Speaker 1: this girl's life. You know, I don't know what kind

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Speaker 1: of bonus or reward you're going to get on this earth,

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Speaker 1: but I know for sure you got your angel's wings,

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Speaker 1: so you don't need to worry about that. I tell

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Speaker 1: you mister Merrick, you just give me the strength to

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Speaker 1: keep on fighting. And I'm so glad I got to

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Speaker 1: talk to you today. Thank you for being with us, sir,

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me with me. Mister Dionne Merrick

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Speaker 1: joining me from Louisiana. The Pelican waiste employee who calls

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Speaker 1: nine one one and saves a ten year old little

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Speaker 1: girl's life from a registered sex offender. So many would

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Speaker 1: have could have shout us are ignored every day, but

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Speaker 1: he didn't. He listened to the amber alert, he noticed

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Speaker 1: the silver Nissan out in the middle of a field,

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Speaker 1: and he acted, putting his own life in jeopardy. Nancy

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Speaker 1: Grace Crime Story signing off goodbye friend,