07 November 2023 , 12:44
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Footage shows the shocking moment hero cops rescued a terrified five-year-old girl from being hidden in a closet.
Tense video captured on a police body camera reveals the response by police during a search warrant at the home of a 40-year-old man. Officers were at the home to aid the state Department of Human Services (DHS) in taking custody of the girl.
"She was very emotional when she came out and pretty scared," Detective Keith Lindley said. "He had instructed her not to make a sound or reveal she was back there."
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'She was very emotional when she came out and pretty scared,' police said (Tontitown Police Department)A suspect was arrested on charges of first-degree child endangerment and interference with court-ordered custody. He is due in court on December 4.
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An arrest report said a judge had issued a court order to retrieve the girl from the home in Tontitown in Arkansas, last Thursday. A man can be heard saying "Hey sweetie" to her when they first found her.
Jon Thompson was arrested on Friday (Tontitown Police Department)The report also said the suspect did not initially allow officers to open the door and denied the girl was at his home. Eventually, officers were let inside and they heard noises coming from a bedroom.
Afterward, the suspect admitted the girl was in the home and got down on his knees and moved a number of boxes. A man in a baseball cap and overalls is then seen pulling a board nailed to the wall "to get access to a small space" behind the closet.
Police heard noises coming from a bedroom (Tontitown Police Department)The arrest report stated the girl was hiding in a space six to eight feet at the widest point going down to maybe two to four feet at the other." She was later taken safely into DHS custody.
Lindley said the suspect was "on bond in connection for a methamphetamine charge from our neighbour city to the north," relating to charges in Benton County.
The arrest report stated the girl was hiding in a space six to eight feet at the widest point (Tontitown Police Department)For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US
Bodycam footage routinely reveals dramatic policing moments in the US. This month footage of hero cops dealing with the wildfires that struck the Hawaiian island of Maui in August.
In footage, an officer sprinted from house to house in the historic town of Lahaina, alerting people to the approaching inferno. Another coughed and swore as he drove through thick smoke past burning buildings with people he rescued crammed in the back seat. With no ambulance available, one officer offered to bring a severely burned man to a hospital.