We’re used to reading about all the negative impacts that our phones have on us but one U.S. teenager is lucky to be alive and it’s all thanks to her iPhone.
A student named Jaila Gladden was abducted at knifepoint from the car park of a convenience store, she recalled to BuzzFeed News.
The assailant forced her into his car and drove her toward Atlanta. Throughout the drive, he would randomly pull over and sexually assault Jaila.
As they continued driving, he asked her to direct him towards the nearest petrol station, which she saw as an opportunity to plan her escape.
“When he initially picked me up I was watching where he drove,” Jaila told the media outlet. “He never took eyes off the road.”
She then told him that she couldn’t direct him to the petrol station without googling directions on her phone.
Her kidnapper gave her back the phone which she used to send a message to her boyfriend.
She shared her location with him and wrote “kidnapped.”
Thanks to this message, her boyfriend was able to contact police and they found her using the location feature and arrested the kidnapper.
“If I didn’t get the location, who knows what would have happened,” Jaila’s boyfriend, Tamir Bryant said. “Her doing it on her own — she was able to outsmart the bad guy.”
“If this victim did not have her phone and did not think quickly she may not have been as lucky,” a police spokesperson said.
The assailant has been charged with kidnapping, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault, rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment, and aggravated assault against a police officer, BuzzFeed News reported.
To read Jaila’s full story, head over to BuzzFeed News.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can speak confidentially to a trained counsellor 24 hours a day at headspace.org.au or Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800.
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