Paramedics in Maryville, Illinois, responded to a one-of-a-kind call Thursday night: An Elf on the Shelf in need of saving.
6-year-old Tatum LeBeau's baby brother Rocco put the elf at risk when he did the one thing you're not supposed to do.
"I started crying cause Rocco 'putted and holded' it really tight. I was thinking it would lose its magic,” Tatum told 5 On Your Side.
Tatum mourned her elf until two unexpected visitors showed up at the door.
"Mama didn't even call them. They knowed,” she said.
Paramedics from the Maryville Village Fire Department did know this was a call unlike any other.
"He says we have to go and save an elf, and I'm like -- is this a joke?" paramedic Jason Hugh said.
Pugh and his partner hopped in the ambulance for the 5-minute journey to rescue the LeBeaus' elf.
"She did, in fact, have an arm injury, and I guess little brother touched the belly, and that's where they were concerned about the magical powers,” he said.
The first responders brought the elf to the ambulance, where they wrapped her arm in a sling.
"The neighbors obviously come out and watch, and here we come carrying out a little elf,” Pugh said, laughing.
Somehow, the paramedics also brought back the elf's powers.
“I don't know, it's magic!” Tatum said.
And she's hoping her little brother learned a lesson.
“He'll never do that again.”
