A 26-year-old woman mistook a potato to be a "human toe" and called the police while walking her dog on January 5. Katie Wilkinson, hailing from Winlatonin Gateshead, was walking her dog Phoebe when she spotted a "human toe" sticking out of a muddy field. She immediately reported it to the police.
In conversation with Daily Online, she said that she had taken a different route than usual one that day and kept her eyes on the fields so as not to slip or fall on the four inches of mud. This route was going through two muddy fields and was longer than the usual. She added about spotting something sticking out from the ground that she thought looked like a toe.
She took a picture to show it to others as well. Katie states that everyone she showed the picture also agreed with her, that's when she decided to inform the police.
Talking to the website, Katie said that after she took the photo, she went home and had doubts if it was really a toe or a weird plant or something. She couldn't stop thinking about it and said that it was going 'round and round' in her head, fearing that it could have been 'severed from someone's foot or could still be attached to a body.
The police came to her house within five minutes after she called 101 and they conducted a two-hour search with sniffer dogs. Katie accompanied the officers to the location of the 'toe' and as the investigation started, more and more police officers, sergeants and detectives arrived on the scene. She showed them the picture and they agreed with her too. But, when sniffer dogs were brought in, it was discovered that it was just a tiny potato and not a 'human toe'.
A sergeant walked over to Katie and asked, "Is this your toe?" holding a potato in his hand. She said that she felt embarrassed and awful for wasting everyone's time for a potato and kept apologizing to everyone, but they all reassured her that she had done the right thing. Katie said she felt like she was in a "murder documentary" after two dogs, their handlers, around seven police cars, loads of police officers, two detectives and few sergeants arrived at the scene.
Talking to Mirror, Katie said that she was mortified but relieved at the same time that it turned out to be a potato as she didn’t know how she would have reacted if it was a toe or attached to a body.