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Police Respond To Little Girl's Emergency Call About Her 'Injured' Stuffed Animal

February 29, 2020

Police officers in Colorado were quick to respond to a call from a 6-year-old girl who dialed 911 to get help for her "injured" stuffed animal.

Natalie Coulter, 6, was playing on her mother's old phone when she made the emergency call.

"I've always given her a dead phone to play with to pretend she's calling somebody and I never thought anything about it," her mother, Brittany Coulter, told KDVR.

When the call went through – despite the phone being deactivated for years – Natalie appeared to tell dispatch that her stuffed animal was hurt before hanging up.

Officer Dane Stratton and another officer pin-pointed the home and made a visit.

The police department released audio of the incident on Facebook.

While the officers attended to the bunny, Stratton gave the 6-year-old a lesson about emergency calls.

"Natalie, if bunny's hurt, we don't need to call 911," he says. "But if you're hurt or mommy's hurt, absolutely call us, OK?"

He added: "If you do call 911 for mommy being sick or grandma being sick, just make sure you talk to the people on the phone and let them know what's going on, OK?"

Stratton told KDVR that he welcomed the opportunity to connect with his community and give a lesson to a young child.

"The last thing that I want is for kids to be scared of us to -- be scared of the services we can provide and to not come to us when they need help," he said.