Isabelle LaPeruta, a 7-year-old from Old Bridge, New Jersey, called 911 after she accidentally touched her Elf on the Shelf.
via Mashable:
According to the legend, if a child touches the elf, the magic of Christmas goes away.
After the 911 operator picks up and asks Isabelle what the problem is, she panics and says, “Don’t come to my house! Don’t!” Isabelle then admits that she was trying to call her father, and the 911 operator reassures her that it was just a mistake.
Of course the operator then dispatched officers to the residence, and Isabelle’s mother, Lynanne LaPeruta, awoke from her nap as the young girl was trying to shoo officers away.
“She was hysterical crying, she was panicking,” Lynanne told NBC New York.
Later, the officer who arrived at the scene radioed back to headquarters. “Isabella apologized. She touched the Elf on a Shelf. She won’t call 911 again.”
The police completely understood that this was indeed an emergency for Isabelle.
“To her, it was an emergency when she touched the elf, and she’s going to ruin Christmas, so that was her emergency,” Old Bridge Police Lt. Joseph Mandola told NBC. “In her mind, she did right, and it was fine with us.”
But if your child does accidentally touch the elf, there is a fix that doesn’t involve the cops. According to the book’s website, you can fix the issue with the following instructions:
If your scout elf has been touched, you can apologize by writing a letter to Santa, or saying you’re sorry to your elf. Then, please sprinkle a little cinnamon beside him or her before you go to bed; cinnamon is like vitamins for scout elves, and it helps them get back to the North Pole. Once they arrive, the North Pole doctors will check them out.
In case you were wondering, Isabelle’s mother was sleeping at the time. According to the 911 call, Isabelle was actually attempting to call her father.
