Trending

2 arrested after armored truck spills cash on California freeway

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Authorities arrested two people Friday and warned that others could face charges after an armored truck spilled bags of cash onto Interstate 5 in the San Diego area, snarling traffic as drivers abandoned their vehicles to snag the bills, according to multiple reports.

>> Read more trending news

The incident began around 9 a.m. when a door popped open on an armored truck traveling northbound on the interstate in Carlsbad, dropping two bags of money onto the road, KGTV reported.

“One of the bags broke apart, and there was cash all over the lanes,” Sgt. Curtis Martin of the California Highway Patrol told the San Diego Union-Tribune. He said the truck was en route from San Diego to an office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., known more commonly as the FDIC.

Video posted on social media showed standstill traffic on the interstate as people scrambled to pick up the loose cash.

Travis Fisher, who was driving on the I-5 when the incident happened, told KSWB-TV that he initially thought there had been a crash because traffic came to a complete stop. He said he soon noticed some truckers getting out of their vehicles and running between the lanes of traffic before other people began to get out of their vehicles.

“I see all these things floating around, and I realize it’s money,” he told KSWB. “It was pretty crazy. Just everywhere – there was a sea of bills everywhere.”

Authorities declined to say how much money spilled from the armored car. Officials arrested two people at the scene after they allegedly grabbed cash and then locked themselves out of their car as it was blocking lanes of traffic, KGTV reported.

Authorities asked that people who picked up the cash come forward.

“If you stop to pick up money, as many people as videoed the scene (did), you can possibly be facing charges,” CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt said, according to the Union-Tribune. “If a bunch of TVs fell from a truck across the freeway, you can’t just take the TVs.”

Martin told the newspaper that several people have come forward to return money taken from off the interstate.

“People are bringing in a lot,” he said, according to the Union-Tribune. “People got a lot of money.”