Woman’s hidden cellphone saves her after stranger gets in her car, US cops say

After dialing 911, the woman hid her phone in her purse, ‘giving out directions to help guide law enforcement to her as she drove him to the restaurant several blocks away’, the sheriff’s office said. — KHOR SOW YEE/The Star

A woman’s “quick thinking” helped lead police officers to her rescue in Oregon.

It started with a dispatcher who got an odd 911 call at the Willamette Valley Communication Center just after 5pm on Wednesday, Sept 28.

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The dispatcher could “hear a woman in the background telling someone to ‘get out of my car’ and ‘don’t touch me’,” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The 36-year-old woman called 911 shortly after a stranger entered her car as she was leaving a gas station in Salem refused to leave, according to the release

After dialing 911, the woman hid her phone in her purse, “giving out directions to help guide law enforcement to her as she drove him to the restaurant several blocks away”, the sheriff’s office said.

The dispatcher continued to listen “as the caller was saying street names in the background while driving to help the police find her”.

While listening, they relayed the information to deputies and “officers from the Salem Police Department”, according to the sheriff’s office, who were able to find the woman at a Shari’s Restaurant.

“The woman was with a man she didn’t know who had taken her car keys and cellphone before they arrived,” the release said.

The woman was not injured, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Her quick thinking to call 911 and the great work by our dispatcher’s made it possible to find the victim quickly and to help get her to safety,” Patrol Sergeant Kevin Roberts said in the release.

Danniel Anderson, 40, was arrested and booked for kidnapping, officials said. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service