KFC, Pizza Hut in China (Photo : REUTERS/JOE TAN)
A Florida woman used Pizza Hut app, an Uber-like delivery service, to ask help while she and her three children were being held hostage by a man.
Cheryl Treadway ended the hostage situation on May 5, Tuesday by sending a message to a Pizza Hut in Avon Park seeking help along with her pizza order online that had an added comment saying a mother and her children were being held by a man, WTSP 10 News reported.
Chef Alonia Hawk spotted the message and manager Candy Hamilton printed the order.
"I've been here 28 years and never, never seen nothing like that come through," Hamilton told WFLA.
Hamilton explained, "It said 'Please help! Get 911 to me.' And she placed a pizza order and then down here it said, '911 hostage help.'"
The manager recognized the name and address of the Treadway as their regular customer so they immediately called 911.
Hawk also said she knew something was very wrong when she saw Treadway's message. She said, "I was kinda scared. I was scared for the person."
The Highlands County Sheriff's Office hostage negotiator Lt. Curtis Ludden was first to arrive at the Treadway's home.
Holding one of her children, Treadway ran out but her two other children stayed inside with their father, Ethan Nickerson, who was armed with a knife and would not answer the door. Throughout the day, Treadway had been arguing with Nickerson.
Prior to the hostage crisis, Nickerson took Treadway's cell phone and demanded that he accompany Treadway to pick up her children from school. When they came back with the children, Treadway convinced Nickerson to have her cell phone back so she could order from Pizza Hut.
First rolled out in Israel and in Russia in 2014, the Pizza Hut app is set to debut in the Dallas area and will eventually be introduced in the whole United States.
