You might think you would never forget your child in the back, but it can happen to anyone. Busy schedules, lack of sleep and changes in routine can distract us easier than you think. No child should ever be left unattended in a vehicle for any amount of time – even a quick trip into the store is too long. Accidents happen, and 33 percent of children who die from being left in a hot car are less than one year old. Leaving children unattended in a vehicle for even a few minutes can be risking their life.
Per reports, the 911 caller told the dispatcher that they spotted a baby left alone in a car. The call prompted the police officer to rush to the Walmart shopping plaza. There, just as the call had said, he spied an infant in a car: a blanket, a bottle and finally two bare feet, motionless, emerging from beneath the fabric. He drew his baton, smashed the window and saved the child.
Something was wrong. He described the infant as appearing lifeless or dead. Officer Short began administering CPR. It did not work. He called for an ambulance, and then he checked for an obstructed airway. He then realized that the baby was, in fact, a realistic-looking doll and that its mouth did not open. He canceled the call for an ambulance. When the brave officer found the owner of the doll, Seiffert, who was getting her hair cut in Super Cuts during the incident, she told the officer that it was designed to look as much as a real baby as possible.
He said the doll even felt like a real baby when he picked it up. The woman told the officer that she had purchased the doll, named Ainslie from a doll nursery for $2,300 the week before the incident. The doll, called a “reborn” doll, is handcrafted from silicone so it looks as realistic as possible. Seiffert has a collection of reborn dolls (SEE PHOTO). She says she plans to put a sticker on her car to alert others that the babies inside the car are not real.
