Bronx Woman Uses Grubhub To Alert Police That She’s Being Held Hostage

Quick thinking saved the life of a young woman in the Bronx who used Grubhub to notify police that she was being held hostage.

The ordeal unfolded when the unidentified 24-year-old woman agreed to meet up with a guy that she’d been corresponding with on a dating app. The man, 32-year-old Kemoy Royal, took her phone and began assaulting the woman both physically and sexually when she arrived, ultimately holding her against her will. Royal allowed the victim to use her phone when she asked to order food. That is when she made a shocking plea using her Grubhub app.

She placed an order with The Chipper Truck Cafe at around 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning. In the “additional instructions” section, the woman hastily typed a grammatical-error-filled message, though one thing was clear: she was in dire need of help.

“Please call the police,” the first words read. Towards the end, she asked that the restaurant be discreet, writing, “please don’t make it obvious.”

According to Alice Bermejo, one of Chipper Truck’s owners, staff quickly sprang into action. An employee who read the note called her husband, who instructed them to phone the police immediately.

“It was just a waiting game to see what happened. We didn’t know if it was real or fake,” Bermejo stated.

Shortly after 6:00 a.m., the New York Police Department responded to a residence on Pratt Avenue in Eastchester and rescued the woman. Royal was arrested and charged with rape, strangulation, criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment, menacing, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and sexual abuse. He is being held on a $25,000 cash bond.

Shockingly enough, Royal is also facing a slew of similar charges stemming from the sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman just four days before holding his date hostage.

Grubhub gifted The Chipper Truck Cafe a $5,000 reward for acting quickly to save the woman.