Strange, but True: British Police Smash Car Window to Rescue Realistic Baby Doll (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 31, 2011
Victoria Cristofis of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK, holding the realistic 'Reborn' doll she bought for her daughter Chanel - beside her is the smashed vehicle window UK police broke to rescue the doll
Responding to a call, British police recently smashed the closed window of a locked Vauxhall Zafira to save from the heat what they believed was a trapped baby, only to discover that the “infant” was a realistic baby doll.
Stunned at their discovery that the “baby” wasn’t real, but a “reborn” doll, they had caused 200 pounds in vehicle damages — the equivalent of 325 US dollars — but have agreed to pay for the damages.
The realistic (and expensive) Reborn doll reportedly also flops over, has realistic hair, and can even SMELL like a real baby.
Cool, but a bit creepy.
Reported by Mail Online, Police smash their way into car to rescue baby on a hot day… only to discover a DOLL:
The police caused £200 damage to the car in order to save Sam, a doll so lifelike it even has anatomically correct veins.
Mother-of-three Victoria Cristofis bought the ‘Reborn’ doll for her daughter Chanel’s birthday in June.
Ms Cristofis says people have accosted her when shopping and accused her of mistreating a real baby, and petted it as if it was real — even before the police became involved.
She said: ‘Chanel is absolutely inseparable from this doll, she takes it everywhere and in just a month it’s caused all sorts of problems. It’s becoming a bit of a celebrity in Worksop.
‘I was in the supermarket and Chanel was shaking Sam around, and a woman came up to me practically shouting and asking what sort of mother I was allowing my baby to be ragged about like that.
‘I had to explain to her that it wasn’t real. She didn’t believe me at first then she inspected it and realised it was a doll. We ended up having a laugh about it.
‘Sometimes Chanel carries the doll around in a little Moses basket and swings the basket around like kids do. We will be walking down the street and people will look on in horror.
‘It is amazing, there’s no detail left out. It’s not just the way it looks, although it’s so realistic it even has veins. When you pick it up it flops a bit just like a real baby, and they even make it smell like a real baby.’
Chanel Cristofis, age 5, holding her Reborn baby doll, Sam
From The Mirror, Realistic doll mistaken for real-life baby by police who smash open car:
Glimpsing the realistic doll in this mum’s arms, it’s easy to see why police mistook it for an actual baby.
Worried officers smashed their way into Victoria Cristofis’s family car, thinking the abandoned tot was trapped in the passenger footwell.
And there was embarrassment all round when they handed back Sam, the lifelike £100 Reborn doll which belongs to her five-year-old daughter Chanel.
Mum Victoria, 25, said: “My husband Anastasi wasn’t too happy with the state of the car — there was £200 worth of damage. But I can see why they did it.
“Chanel carries Sam everywhere and lots of people say how real she looks. Sam has veins, flops a bit and even smells like a real baby.”
[...]
Dad Anastasi, 37, who owns a fish and chip shop in Worksop, Notts, said: “The officer handed the doll over and told us not to leave it in the car again. But the police have offered to pay for the damage.”
From Metro, Police break into car to rescue baby and find it’s actually a lifelike doll:
Police have been left red-faced after they smashed a window of a car in order to save what they thought was a baby left behind on a hot day –- only to discover that it was a lifelike doll.
Five-year-old Chanel Cristofis had left the Reborn doll, named Sam, in her dad’s car when he dropped her to school.
He then parked his car and went to work at the fish and chip shop he owns in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
A passer-by then reported that they had seen a baby left in a car, and officers broke into the car, amid fears that the ‘baby’ could die in the heat.
Chanel’s dad Anastasi, 37, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when the police turned up holding the doll and told me what had happened. The officer told me not to leave it in the car again.’
The “reborn” market is growing, and apparently, many people run successful reborn babies businesses online. Reborn babies sell for anywhere from $75 to $1,000 — customized dolls can cost even more.
More background on the life-like baby dolls, from Daily Mail:
Reborns first started to appear in the early 1990s when toy enthusiasts wanted to create more realistic dolls.
Since then, demand has grown – with some creations fetching in excess of £1,000.
To achieve their lifelike appearance, the doll’s skin is painted in multiple layers in a mottled effect and veins are added.
They are weighted similarly to that of real newborns – and the hair and eyelashes are often rooted with mohair.
Some reborns come with a magnetic dummy or even a heartbeat.
While the dolls are sometimes used like a regular toy, they can also serve a more serious purpose: to help a parent grieving the loss of a child or in incidents involving police work.
Here’s a 2009 BBC documentary on the creation of “Reborns” and the people who collect them — some of them collect the pricey dolls obsessively.
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