An Uber driver in California managed to save a 16-year-old from being sold into a child sex trafficking ring on Monday after overhearing a conversation between two women he'd picked up that evening. The driver, 34-year-old Keith Avila, noticed something was wrong when he heard his passengers, Destiny Pettway and Maria Westley, discussing dropping off the teenage girl they were with to a "John" for money.
After driving them to their destination, a Holiday Inn in Elk Grove, California, Avila waited outside and immediately called the police. As they arrived, he streamed his reaction and some of the scene behind him on Facebook Live.
"The worst thing I thought would happen when driving Uber is that I would be getting drunk passengers and I would have to handle them,"Avila told NBC News. "All my life, I thought about people throwing up in the car as the worst scenario."
According to NBC, the two women were arrested for pimping and pandering, and their bail was set at $500,000. The 16-year-old girl, who was reportedly a runaway, was found with Disney Vang, who was arrested under suspicions of sexual activity with a minor - however, he has since been released.
After the incident Avila was recognized by the Uber Safety Team - as he should have been, considering the world would be a better place if we had more drivers like him out on the road.