#TBT, A Memorable Stop For 1 Holden Cop Involving A Mannequin

Cops see a lot. Those are just the facts. Many of the things they witness stay with them for their entire life. Some, for not-so-great reasons, others because they are just so unusual they'll shake your head in wonder.

One such incident took place last year when a Holden cop performed what he thought would be a regular traffic stop along Route 1-A. Do you remember this story?

It was an ordinary shift for Officer Andrew Whitehouse and his colleague, as they patrolled the roads of Holden on behalf of the Police Department on August 18, 2021.

It was the middle of their shift, about midnight, when they came upon a man driving an SUV erratically.

"I stopped him investigating a possible OUI," explains Whitehouse who ultimately arrested the driver. And that's where the story gets interesting.

Get our free mobile app

"After I arrested him, I went back to the vehicle and I was looking through because we always search the vehicles afterward for evidence...and as I'm looking in the back I see this what I thought at first was a person but come to find out it's a mannequin! She's got blonde hair and bright red lipstick on, and she's wrapped up in a blanket. And she's laid out from the front to the back seat like he's got the seat down."

A startling find, no doubt. Officer Whitehouse, having many a year of professional investigation under his belt, made small talk with his newly arrested acquaintance, doing his best to ascertain what the story was, and the explanation he received was even stranger than finding a made-up mannequin in the back seat of an SUV.

"So while we were waiting to do the Intoxilyzer test, I usually engage people in random conversation...and we were just kind of talking, and he just kind of sputtered out that he and his girlfriend got into a fight because he was having romantic issues with the girlfriend and the girlfriend accused him of not having romantic issues with the mannequin."

Being the consummate professional, Officer Whitehouse went back to the Holden police station, and with some quiet chuckles, wrote up the report of what happened that night, something that despite his decades in law enforcement, he had never come across before.

"That was a first for me in my 27-year career."

It will certainly be a traffic stop that cop remembers for quite some time, no doubt.

When asked what his thoughts on the situation were, he simply said "It takes all kinds."

So we'll leave it at that.