Commuters in New Jersey were treated to an early Christmas present on Thursday morning as cash rained down from the sky across a highway in the US state.
Dollar bills of different denominations floated through the air between the snow in East Rutherford, near New York, after what appeared to be a traffic accident between a car and an armoured vehicle carrying the money.
A video posted to Twitter at roughly 8:30am local time showed dozens of drivers risking their lives to leave their cars and scoop up the cash.
Early Christmas for NJ commuters! It was raining 💵 on Route 3!! @njdotcom @ABC7NY @News12NJ #commute pic.twitter.com/oNC7bs3fZz
— Sabrina Quagliozzi (@squagliozzi) December 13, 2018
Bus passengers in the video can be heard laughing as one exclaimed: “This is super dangerous, everyone’s just out of their car picking up money.”
It is not clear how much money spilled into the road but local police said the incident had caused multiple accidents.
Approx 8:30am ERPD received calls of an armored truck spilling cash along Rt 3 West, motorists exited vehicles attempting to remove cash causing multiple MV Crashes. Detectives are investigating. We ask any person with info or video of this incident, call ERPD 201-438-0165
— East Rutherford Police (@ERutherfordPD) December 13, 2018
One commuter, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Press Association: “Commuters from both sides of Route 3 had abandoned their cars to run around collecting cash.
“Cars would be driving around people crouched over picking up cash. One man heading east jumped out of an idling car and jumped the median.
“Even people on the bus were jokingly asking to be let out.”
An armoured vehicle from Brinks, a US security company, can be seen at one end of the road.
East Rutherford Police and Brinks did not respond to requests for comment.