Local

Hanging mannequin Christmas decoration prompts 911 calls

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A woman called 911 when she noticed what looked like a man hanging near Christmas decorations on a Gwinnett County home.

“I opened the door, there were  fire trucks, ambulance, fire marshal, police car and six fire men,” said homeowner Bubba Murphy, who lives in a Berkeley Lake community.

Every year, many of the homes go all out with Christmas displays, covering every inch of their property.

To compete with the displays, the Murphy’s said they put up a hanging mannequin, with a fallen ladder, surrounded by Christmas lights on their home.  But, the display looked so real, a woman passing with her two children, called 911 horrified, claiming she saw a hanging man. Gwinnett County Police, firefighters, and EMS responded to the home on Duckpond Trace.

“We saw the ambulance we didn’t know what was going on because live right down there, we were just hoping everyone was OK,” one neighbor said.

“Oh my gosh, she apologized to myself, my wife, the firemen, and the fire marshal,” Murphy told Channel 2’S Rachel Stockman.

“I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe someone was pranking us, but nobody would prank us with that many county resources,” said Dawn Murphy.

Murphy told us fire crews advised him to take the display down for the time being.

“That is our biggest response so far. We’ve had people come up and jump out of their cars, the mail man and the neighbor, they ran up to help,” said Murphy.

“We never really thought we would get anybody to the point of dialing 911,” said Dawn Murphy.

The Murphy’s recently put the display back up due to popular.

“Hope we didn’t offend anybody,” Murphy said.

It is not clear how much the 911 call cost taxpayers in county resources.