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A few drivers on Interstate 5 in Eugene, Oregon, are a little bit richer after another driver tossed money from his car. The Oregon State Police said that Colin Davis McCarthy, 38, was driving along the highway and started throwing $100 bills out of his car.
Drivers pulled over the collect the money as it flew across the roadway, creating dangerous conditions on the busy highway.
"It's hundred-dollar bills floating around, and I'm like, 'what!?' So my boyfriend and I decided to go one way, he goes the other way, and so far I've found 300 dollars!" a woman at the scene told KEZI.
Deputies stopped McCarthy a short time later. He told them that he "wanted to bless others with gifts of money." He estimated that he tossed about $200,000 out of his car window.
The officers warned McCarthy that his actions were dangerous and that throwing money onto the highway is considered littering.
He agreed to stop, and the officers let him go without charges.
"He could have been charged in a situation like this for danger being created because of his actions -- disorderly conduct, potentially reckless endangering, but most likely disorderly conduct," OSP Lieutenant Jim Andrews said. "I know the troopers considered charging him with that or arresting him, but after a conversation with him, they elected not to."
Andrews said that investigators spoke to McCarthy's family, who claim the money was taken from a shared bank account. The family members said McCarthy's actions left them broke and asked anybody who recovered the cash to bring it to the police.
"Because it's shared, they both have equal interests in the money," Andrews said. "To prevent something like that happening if you were estranged, you would definitely want to create a secondary bank account and then take out a portion of the money that you believe is rightfully yours."