Police Break Car Window To Save Baby, Finds A Creepy Doll

Police in the West Midlands, U.K. were in for an unusual shock when they smashed through a car window to save what they thought was a baby locked in the car.

Instead, they found an oddly realistic doll, and a whole lot of bad press.

It all happened at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, West Midlands, when a passerby looking into a car window and saw what appeared to be a baby wrapped in a blanket in the front seat. Only part of the infant’s head was visible, and when police were called they assumed what they were looking at was a baby locked in a car. In fact, they even had a couple of nurses take a look, and they agreed that it was a baby, and in distress.

However, when police officers broke the window of the car they found that what they thought was a baby was in fact a life-like doll belonging to 10-year-old Janaih Rattray who was at the hospital to visit her mother. She had left the doll wrapped up on the front seat of her sister’s car before going inside.

With nobody around to explain the damage to the vehicle, police had no choice but to leave a note asking Janaih’s sister Delesia to call police so they could explain. She describes the moment she walked up to the car:

“When I went outside to the car I found the back window behind the driver’s seat had been smashed in and there was glass all over the seats. I thought it was weird, and then I found a note from police to ring them.”

After police explained what had happened, Delesia was surprised that they had confused the doll for a real baby, especially considering that it obviously wasn’t moving and many aspects of it appear less than life-like.

However, once the situation was explained in full, and the police offered to pay for the damage to the car’s window, Delesia wasn’t that worried about the unusual situation.

“I can understand why they broke into the car if they really thought there was a baby inside.”

The doll in question, named Ryan by Janaih, was given to her by a family member, and is a limited edition item. Although most would argue it’s very lifelike, as well as pretty creepy, it’s doesn’t seem real enough to warrant this kind of mixup. But as police pointed out, when they arrived at the scene only a small portion of the doll was visible, and what they saw certainly matched what they thought was a baby in distress.

In the end, although the police have copped some bad press for the incident, the station stood by their officers.

“Two of my officers did the right thing when faced with what they genuinely believed was a baby, alone and critically ill in a locked car on the hospital’s car park.”

Had they not acted, and had the realistic doll really been a baby in need to help, this rather comedic situation could have had an entirely different outcome.