A woman ordered a breakfast sandwich and a burger at five in the morning with an urgent add-on. The woman explained in a note on the order slip that she was being held captive by a man and she needed the help of the police. Thankfully, the Grub Hub order alerted the right people who were able to get the woman the police support she needed to avoid being killed by her captor.
When the Grub Hub delivery order came to the workers at the Chipper Truck Café in Yonkers, New York, which is a town north of Manhattan and the Bronx, they were perplexed. And they were worried that the woman who placed the early-morning order could be in serious trouble.
The owner of the restaurant, Alice Bermejo, did not immediately know how to respond to the order maker’s request for the police. However, she eventually took the note seriously and called for help as requested. It was the “hastily written note” in the add-on section that let the restaurant owner and her employees realize that there was something wrong with the person who placed the order on Grub Hub for delivery.
The employee who first saw the note placed a call with Bermejo, who made it clear that she had to call the police to protect the potential victim.
“He was like, ‘Call the police. Can’t take any risks. Better safe than sorry,’” Bermejo said, as quoted by ABC.
The message on the receipt was as follows. It was written in the additional instructions section for the delivery driver working for Grub Hub.
“Please call the police his going to call me when you deliver come with the cones please and don’t make it obvious,” the note read. Although it did not have perfect spelling or grammar, it certainly got the point across that the woman was in trouble and needed help from the restaurant.
According to the victim, the man sexually assaulted her and was keeping her prisoner. He kept her phone away from her and made sure only to give it to her when she needed to order sustenance to survive the ordeal.
Thankfully, Bermejo and her staff reviewed the order carefully and called the cops as requested. They were able to alert police to the sexual predator and help stop a bad man from hurting his victim again.
The perpetrator will face charges, according to reports. The charges against the man who held the woman prisoner include “rape, unlawful imprisonment, strangulation, criminal possession of a weapon, and sexual abuse, among other counts.”
The 24-year-old victim had been held in the Bronx and was freed when police arrived at the scene.
“We really had no idea of the gravity of the situation until after everything had happened,” Bermejo said to ABC.
The victim’s friend called Bermejo to thank her, and Grub Hub donated $5,000 to her business as gratitude for saving a woman from life as a Bronx man’s sex slave.
“Every time we see a simple but extraordinary act like this, we are amazed by how our partners positively impact their communities,” Lisa Belot, director of public relations at Grub Hub, said to ABC. “From drivers delivering in difficult weather to our corporate employees volunteering at food banks to these restaurant employees in Yonkers who recognized a serious situation and acted quickly, we’re grateful and humbled that Grubhub can be a part of such incredible stories of kindness and heroism.”