North Lauderdale, Fla. ? A story that sounded too heartless to be true turned out to be just that Friday — a lie — after a Good Samaritan who said she had rescued a baby thrown from a car admitted she was the baby’s mother.

Patricia Pokriots, 38, a bartender who lives in North Lauderdale, told detectives she concocted the tale to hide her pregnancy and the baby’s birth Thursday morning in her mother’s bathroom. Officials put Pokriots under psychiatric evaluation and called an emergency hearing, temporarily transferring custody of the infant boy, nicknamed Johny, to a local child welfare agency. The baby, named after Dr. Johny Tryzmel, the lead doctor caring for him at Broward General Hospital, remained in good condition Friday.

A woman who claimed to have witnessed a newborn being thrown from a moving car was the baby's mother and concocted the story as a way to abandon the child and conceal her pregnancy from her family. The baby boy, nicknamed Johny, rested Friday at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., while being filmed by a television cameraman.

“This is a case of a distraught woman who gave birth and did not want the child,” said Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne. “Why we are all here is because she decided to lie.”

Pokriots has not identified the father.

In Florida, parents are allowed to leave an unwanted newborn at a fire station or hospital with anonymity and without the risk of prosecution, as long as the baby is not more than 3 days old and shows no sign of abuse. Similar laws exist in 42 states.

Jenne said Pokriots regretted lying and was hospitalized for observation after “she indicated that she might be a threat to herself.”

Pokriots’ mother and the baby’s grandmother, Janet Pokriots, defended her daughter Friday, saying she was a good mother who got scared. The grandmother said Pokriots was not prepared to care for the child. Patricia Pokriots has another son who is 10 years old.

“The story got a little elaborate because she wanted help for her baby,” Janet Pokriots said Friday night outside a the home where she, her daughter and grandson live together. “Her main thing was to make sure the baby was taken care of, and he was, and he’s in good shape.”

The idea that someone would throw a baby from a car sparked nationwide attention. Local officials reported getting hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from people across the United States, offering to adopt the 8-pound, 2-ounce infant or asking how they could aid him financially.