Doll mistaken for baby locked in car in Keene, prompting police response
Officer said he would have never thought it wasn't a real baby
Keene police say an officer broke a car window last month to rescue what he thought was a baby trapped in a hot car.
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It turns out, it wasn’t a baby; it was a doll.
On July 23, someone called 911 for an infant left in a car on a hot day at a shopping plaza.
“I got there as soon as I could,” said Lt. Jason Short of Keene police. “I don't know how fast I was going, but it was quick.”
Short found the windows closed and instantly spotted the child car seat.
“It was draped with a light blanket, and I could see little feet out with the non-soled shoes and a bottle of milk,” he said.
Short shattered the window with his baton, when his worst fear came over him.
“Looked lifeless, looked dead,” he said of the baby’s appearance.
Related: Police officer breaks car window to rescue baby, turns out to be doll
He breathed into the baby’s mouth and noticed something wasn’t right.
“And I went to put my finger in its mouth and it was all resistance,” he said. “And I'm like, 'This is a doll.'”
The doll was a “reborn doll,” manufactured to look exactly like a baby. Most reborn dolls cost a few hundred dollars, but this doll was valued at over $2,000.
Short canceled his call for an ambulance.
“It felt like a baby,” he said. “It looked like a baby. And – and everything about it was ‘baby.’”
The doll, named “Ainsley,” is one of about 40 owned by Carolynne Seiffert of Brattleboro, Vermont. She began collecting the dolls years ago as a way to cope with the death of her son.
In a statement, Seiffert said: “I’ve been laughed at and embarrassed by all the fuss. You can’t know how people choose to deal with their losses in life.”
Seiffert said she’s upset about the damage to her car, but Short said he couldn’t take the chance.
“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.”
In the end, all involved seemed to learn something from the mix-up.
“If you're willing to take the doll out in the car, be willing to take it into the store,” Short said. “That would be the only advice I have. Or leave it at home.”
Seiffert said the police chief told her the department would pay for the damage to her vehicle. She also bought a custom bumper sticker to put on her car saying the doll is not a real baby, to prevent this from happening again.