Doll Blamed for Baby in Hot Car False Alarm
“It felt like a baby. It looked like a baby," the police officer said.
— -- An extremely lifelike doll set off a false alarm in Keene, New Hampshire, prompting police to smash a car window in an attempt to rescue what they thought was a baby trapped inside.
Officer Jason Short raced to the scene after a 911 call alerted the Keene Police Department of a possible baby trapped in a hot car on July 23, according to a report published on Tuesday by WMUR, an local ABC affiliate.
“I got there as soon as I could,” Short told WMUR. “I don’t know how fast I was going, but it was quick.”
As he approached the car, he saw a disturbing scene: what looked like a baby, draped in a blanket, lying in the back seat of a car with the windows rolled up.
Fearing the worst, Short used his baton to shatter the window and quickly assessed the situation.
“Looked lifeless, looked dead,” Short remembered.
But when he attempted to perform CPR, he realized something was off.
“I went to put my finger in its mouth and it was all resistance,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘This is a doll.’”
As he later discovered, what set off the alarm was actually a reborn doll, manufactured to look as lifelike as possible and valued at over $2,000, according to WMUR.
“It felt like a baby,” he said. “It looked like a baby. And, and everything about it was ‘baby,’” Short told WMUR.
Even after the embarrassing incident, Short said that he would take a similar approach in the future, noting that his top priority is protecting life.
“I would never assume that it’s a doll,” Short said. “I would always assume that it’s a child. I would never do anything different.”
Still, Short has a word of advice for doll aficionados who like to travel with their prized possessions.
“If you’re willing to take the doll out in the car, be willing to take it into the store,” he said. “That would be the only advice I have. Or leave it at home.”