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A hand signal – and the medics who recognized it – are credited with saving a woman in a domestic violence situation early Monday morning in Beech Grove.
Rodney Hamm has been a paramedic for 20 years and has responded to several situations involving domestic violence, but this one was a little bit different.
Around 1:40 a.m. Oct. 14, Hamm was sent to the Churchman Woods Senior Apartments, near East Churchman and Emerson avenues, for a medical alarm going off in one of the apartments. When a 73-year-old woman answered the door, she said she didn't realize it was going off. Hamm noticed a young woman looking very upset but couldn't say anything.
"She was able to get her hand out the door, and she did a hand gesture, which of all things, I learned on TikTok about it. It's a hand gesture that means they need help," Hamm said.
While that hand sign hasn't been officially recognized as a sign of domestic violence, it has been widely spread on social media for people to know when they see that sign that someone needs help.
MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/beech-grove-medic-recognizes-womans-hand-signal-help-domestic-violence/531-64eab051-28f1-409f-9dcf-bcbf2a2ec1c0