An Oregon man caused quite the scene Tuesday night when he began throwing $100 bills from his car as he drove along Interstate 5 south of Eugene.
The man, identified as Colin Davis McCarthy, told police he wanted to “bless others with gifts of money.”
While those who happened to be in the area when cash began raining down on I-5 were overjoyed, McCarthy’s family wasn’t too pleased.
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Oregon State Police reported to mile marker 192 on I-5 around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after reports of someone throwing cash out of their vehicle.
Police were able to identify McCarthy, 38, as the person depositing the bills all over the highway.
KEZI reported officials spoke with McCarthy and when asked why he was dumping money along the interstate, the 38-year-old replied that he was doing well and wanted to share his wealth with others.
McCarthy said he threw away $200,000, though OSP aren’t sure of the exact amount.
Since it was getting dark, OSP asked McCarthy to stop throwing the money, and he agreed.
Several people stopped to pick up the cash and within 30 minutes most of it was gone.
The passersby “pretty good job of cleaning it all up,” OSP Lieutenant Jim Andrews said.
While it may have pleased McCarthy that many were able to benefit from his act of generosity, there were some people who weren’t too happy with him: his family.
According to reports, a relative spoke with police and informed them that while this was typical behavior for McCarthy, the reason he had access to so much was because he drained his family’s shared bank accounts leaving them penniless.
Unfortunately police said there was little they could do for the family.
“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.”
Ultimately, McCarthy was not charged or cited for throwing money onto the road, though police said they did consider it.
Even though it’s highly unlikely, the family is asking anyone who picked up the cash McCarthy threw on the road to return it.
This is a tricky situation. On one hand many people were blessed, but on the other a family lost thousands of dollars.
Would you return the money if you found it?
