There was hardly a cloud in the sky over Indianapolis on Wednesday morning when it started raining money.
In a moment that instantly tested the core of human morality, the definition of right and wrong and the limits of acceptable risk, the back door of a Brink’s armoured truck swung open during rush hour on Interstate 70, blowing bags of money onto the highway.
There was money – $600,000 (£443,000), troopers estimated – everywhere.
Some bags tumbled onto the road and stayed intact – thousands of dollars, just sitting there for the taking. Others ripped open, showering cash over four lanes of the interstate. On the shoulder, $20 bills gathered like leaves and formed piles in the grass off the highway.
Suddenly, the timeless hypothetical question became reality: what would you do?
A school bus driver knew what he would do, police said. He pulled over on the highway, jumped out and grabbed some money before driving away. So did four men in a white pickup truck who snatched an entire bag and then sped off.
Jazmyne Danae stopped her car and started streaming live video on Facebook.
“One of those little bank trucks just dropped all this money and people just came out here,” Ms Danae said as she walked along the highway shoulder, which was covered in $20 bills.
“Sort of something out of a movie scene, where you have bills, loose bills flying all over the interstate, vehicles stopping, people getting out of their cars,” corporal Brock McCooe of the Indiana State Police told WXIN-TV, the Fox affiliate in Indianapolis. “Bags of money were falling out of the back onto the interstate.”
Within minutes, the money grab was over. State troopers blocked traffic on the highway, helped Brink’s employees collect what remained of the money and warned people that they would be arrested if they pocketed any of it.
A company spokesperson said the episode was under investigation.
The Indiana State Police issued a warning.
“People know right from wrong and anyone we track down who kept a dollar of this money will be arrested for theft,” first sergeant Bill Dalton said in a statement.
The New York Times
