Sanitation Workers Help Rescue A Missing 10-Year Old Girl

Dion Merrick and Brandon Antoine, workers for Pelican Waste, are hailed as heroes.

On Monday, the two sanitation workers helped rescue a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly kidnapped.

An Amber alert was sent out to the community in an effort to find the missing child.

Kentucky Woman Reunited With Her Son 55 Years After He Was Kidnapped By Babysitter

During their shift, Merrick and Antoine spotted a car matching the description in the  Amber Alert  the day prior.

After recognizing the car, they pulled over their garbage truck on the wrong side of the highway to block the vehicle and called 911. Merrick documented part of the encounter on Facebook Live and captured police taking a man into custody. 

“Something told me, like just look, I said ‘what is that car doing in that field like that?’… Guess what, that’s the dude with the little girl,” Merrick said in his video. “That’s God.”

The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Michael Roy Sereal and he was arrested for aggravated kidnapping, police said. The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department’s online sex offender registry has a Michael Roy Sereal, but police wouldn’t confirm the man arrested was him, CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported.

The station also reported Sereal was charged with failure to register as a sex offender and is being held without bond in the Iberia Parish Jail.

Merrick is a Navy veteran and a father of two children, ages 13 and 11. He told CBS News that he had a duty to protect the girl. 

Both men got a shoutout from their company and a local police chief offered to buy them lunch. In Merrick’s video, hundreds of comments praised the pair for their heroics.

“It’s a blessing,” Antoine said. “All over the world, I love it.”

Thanks to these two heroes!