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Imagine Isabella LaPeruta's dismay when she knocked her Elf on the Shelf to the floor.
According to legend, such a fall destroys the Elf's magic, and Isabella was afraid she wouldn't get a visit from Santa.
She was throwing a basketball around when the incident occurred.
Her instinct was to seek help -- so she called 911.
But once the operator picked up, she was afraid to speak because she realized she might not have an emergency on her hands and she panicked.
“Don‘t come to my house!” Isabella said to the operator. “I was trying to call my dad but I called you on accident.”
Thankfully the 9-1-1 operator dealt with it in a great way, “You can just say you made a mistake, okay?”
Then the operator connected her to an officer following protocol. Police are required to check on any child who calls 9-1-1.
When the police officer arrived at Isabella’s house, he calmed her down and ensured her that the magic of Christmas was not gone as it goes with the Elf on The Shelf theory and she will get a visit from Santa
“Isabella apologized. She touched her Elf on The Shelf. She won’t call 9-1-1 again,” The officer reported back to the operator.
Lieutenant Joseph Mandola of the Old Bridge Police Department took this case a step further and called the big man in red himself for Isabella.
“Our local fire company goes around neighborhoods, I specifically made a call to them and they said they will stop at that house and Santa will go and say hi to her specifically and make sure she knew she was still going to have Santa,” Mandola said.
In the end, Isabella has learned a big lesson from a small mistake.
“Don’t call 9-1-1,” Isabella said. “Unless it’s an emergency.”