After recently getting out of jail for kidnapping a homeless person, TikToker Teresa Waters (@thefunsizedone) is explaining what really happened. Her act of kindness had been misunderstood as a crime.
Since it was winter, she had been receiving alerts about shelters where homeless people could go to stay warm. She was just coming back from a road trip to New Orleans when she encountered a homeless man outside.
He looked really cold, so Teresa wanted to help him out. However, he also looked scary, and as a woman, she needed to keep herself safe.
She had called the police to pick up homeless people before, but the police didn’t seem to take these matters seriously and would take a while to show up. So, Teresa offered to drive the homeless man to a shelter herself.
She didn’t want to let him in her car, but she had a pillow and blanket in the trunk where he could make himself comfortable. She also had some food for him. Her trunk was spacious, and she talked to the man the whole drive to the shelter to make sure he was okay.
When they pulled up at the homeless shelter, there were two policemen sitting in their car across the street. Once they saw Teresa open her trunk and let the man out, they immediately rushed over to question her.
“I’m trying to explain to them that the man got in the trunk willingly,” said Teresa.
“I didn’t put him in the trunk, and I took him to help him get out of the cold and fed this man and everything.”
The police officers still put her in handcuffs, arrested her on a kidnapping charge, and took her to jail. All she did was try to help someone, and she was rewarded with punishment for her troubles.
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Many TikTok users were shocked by Teresa’s story. It seemed to be the first time they had ever heard of something like this happening.
They praised her for wanting to help but agreed that she went about it entirely the wrong way. It definitely was not a good look to the police.
“As soon as I heard ‘in the trunk,’ I found you guilty. Bless your heart, but please be careful how you go about helping,” advised one user.
“I truly believe your heart was in the right place. However, you can’t put people in your trunk,” stated another.
“You just can’t make this stuff up! Do you know asking that man to get in your trunk and then telling him that it’s warm and you have food is the equivalent of luring a kid into your car by telling them you have candy or a puppy? I am flabbergasted,” added someone else.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
