BROOKSVILLE, Florida — Hernando County Sheriff's Office deputies said a "suspicious vehicle" they investigated in a Brooksville parking lot Friday turned out to be benign.

Around 2:14 p.m. the agency blocked off the entrance to the parking lot of a Buffet City location on Cortez Boulevard east of Mariner Boulevard to investigate what they described as a "suspicious vehicle/package." The public was asked to avoid the area as they investigated the vehicle.

Roughly an hour later, investigators said the vehicle was "nothing more than a citizen expressing his First Amendment right."

The vehicle, a grey pickup truck, had a makeshift billboard sign strapped to its back end containing a handwritten political message.

Additionally, what deputies thought was a suspicious package attached to the truck was was a homemade step for the truck owner's elderly mother to use to exit the truck.