We’ve already reported about parents leaving their infants in automobiles on hot days while they go shopping. Not only is this reckless, but it’s also risky. An extended period of time could cause the infant to get heatstroke, faint, and potentially pass away.
It occurs frequently enough for police officers to get concerned about the problem and monitor parking lots for any infants on really hot days.
Jason Short, a policeman from Keene, New Hampshire, is one such cop. He was on duty when he got a report regarding a newborn who had been abandoned in a car by itself on a sweltering day in a Walmart parking lot.
However, he could never have predicted what would occur next.
When Jason received the call about the baby, he immediately hurried to the location.
“I arrived as quickly as possible,” he stated in a WMUR interview. “I was moving quickly, but I’m not sure how fast I was.”
Jason arrived and saw a baby covered in a blanket with its feet protruding from the car’s windows.
Jason was unaware of the length of time the infant had been there, and it was a very hot day. In order to save the infant, he used his baton to smash the window open.
Though he was afraid it might already be dead, Jason carefully lifted the infant out of the car. It had an odd skin tone and appeared very pale and lifeless.
Soon after, a throng gathered, and Jason started doing CPR. They dispatched an ambulance to the scene.
At that moment, Jason became aware that something was off. He started to sense something wasn’t quite right.
At that moment, he realized. He wasn’t holding a baby; rather, it was a lifelike doll.
When the doll’s owner, Carolynne Seiffer, returned from her shopping trip, she found her USD $2,000 doll, whom she called Ainsley, surrounded by people and her car window damaged.
“All the commotion has made me feel ashamed and laughed at,” she told WMUR.
Caroline reportedly has over 40 of these lifelike dolls to help her deal with her son’s passing, according to the Washington Post. Parents who are grieving may find that these incredibly lifelike dolls help them heal.
She claims that it is impossible to predict how people will respond to their losses in life.
Jason admits that he was a little ashamed to learn that he had saved a doll, but he says he has no regrets and is more than happy that it wasn’t a real infant.
“I never thought it was a doll,” he said to WMUR. “I’d always think it was a youngster. I would never take any different action.
To fix Caroline’s window, the Keene police department had to pay $300 USD.
Here is the Inside Edition news coverage on the incident:
Although this story is a little out of the ordinary, the fact that nobody was hurt is what matters most. For obvious reasons, if you do own one of these dolls, police advise you to keep it in your car’s trunk or carry it with you.
