Hoboken EMT's break into car to rescue baby doll

HOBOKEN, New Jersey (WABC) -- After receiving numerous reports of a baby left inside of a locked vehicle alone, EMT's in Hoboken, N.J., broke the drivers side window of the car to rescue the apparently lifeless looking child.

After gaining entry to the car they discovered there was a reason the baby is the car seat was lifeless.

That's because it is a doll named Todd. It belong to the granddaughter of Kitty Mieles, the owner of the car.

But at quick glance, Todd appears to be an infant in distress in a hot car and that's what authorities saw when Kitty's brother used the SUV to visit friends.

"When he came out, there were the cops and the ambulance and they broke the window thinking that there was a baby in there, but it wasn't a baby, it was a doll," said Kitty Mieles, a grandmother.

Kitty says her 2-year-old granddaughter left Todd perched in the car seat. A passerby saw Todd and called 911 about a child in distress.

When the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corp. arrived they had to make a split-second decision, so they broke the driver's side window to save Todd.

"I saw pictures of the doll and it looked real. I got 34 years' experience in EMS and I probably would have broken the window too," said Thomas Molta, president of Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corp.

Kitty admits Todd is lifelike, but since she has a busted window she wishes the emergency responders would have taken a closer look.

"The doll is there, all you have to do is go like this (peeks in window) and you see the doll," Mieles said.

Rescuing kids from hot cars is a major concern, so much so police in Philadelphia put out a harsh warning on Twitter about handling cases where kids are left in hot cars. They won't hesitate to bust the window because temperatures rise rapidly and there is no time to wait.

"Seconds are paramount there, that's the difference between a baby breathing, not breathing, pulse, no pulse," Molta said.

Todd is back home and Kitty is making a claim to repair the window.

"You can replace a window, but you can't replace a life," Molta said.

That's why police take this matter very seriously. Last year, there were 44 deaths of children left in hot cars and so far this year, there have been 19 deaths.