SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Seminole County firefighters and deputies determined a baby reported to be in a locked car outside a grocery store on Thursday night was really a doll.
First responders arrived at the Publix on Red Bug Lake Road around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday after a worker inside the store called the nonemergency phone line.
"There is a car that has either a highly realistic, fake-looking baby in the car with no one attended and no windows down, or it is a real baby," the caller told the dispatcher.
"I hear over the loudspeaker, 'Would the owner of a 2014 Ford Fiesta come to customer service?'" said Justin Trenz, the car's owner.
Trenz said there was a crowd gathered around the car, and fire department and sheriff's office vehicles were at the scene.
He said the doll isn't for play; it helps him cope with a tragedy that happened in his life.
"I actually use them," he said. "They’re almost the equivalent of an emotional support animal. They help me with my (post-traumatic stress disorder)," he said.
The lifelike doll was sitting in a car carrier in the front seat at the time.
"Carrying them actually helps a lot with the triggers that I have if, I start getting really anxious, or I start feeling like I’m going to go back to that moment," he said.
Firefighters broke out the back window of Trenz's car to let air inside just in case the baby was human.
He has now put up a sign warning people it's a "PTSD Therapy Doll" inside, and not the real thing.
He said he's glad first responders took the call seriously.
"I wasn’t upset, honestly, because I would rather it be this situation than an actual child -- you know -- a child in distress, or something like that," he said.