Detroit gas station clerk saved teenage girl from man after she mouthed 'help' to him

The young Yemeni immigrant manning the cash register at a Sunoco gas station in Detroit struggles at time with his English, but police say he immediately understood when the 16-year-old girl seeking to buy cigarettes silently mouthed the word “help.”Now Abdulrahman Abohatem is being hailed as a hero for saving that teenager from a suspected rapist who allegedly abducted her at gunpoint last week.

The young Yemeni immigrant manning the cash register at a Sunoco gas station in Detroit struggles at time with his English, but police say he immediately understood when the 16-year-old girl seeking to buy cigarettes silently mouthed the word “help.”

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Now Abdulrahman Abohatem is being hailed as a hero for saving that teenager from a suspected rapist who allegedly abducted her at gunpoint last week. And the local Yemeni-American business community is showing its appreciation by raising money to help him defray the costs of his upcoming wedding.

“We are all very proud of him,” said Mohammed Alsanai, principal of the Frontier International Academy in Hamtramck, which is where the teenager attends school.