Finders Keepers?

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Finders keepers?

PITTSBURGH - Police officers should be allowed to keep whatever they find while on duty as a reward for putting their ''lives on the line,'' attorney D.C. Nokes Jr. says. Nokes said Conemaugh Township Officer William Richards should be able to keep $20,000 in $1,000 bills that he found in the snow while questioning a motorist on Feb. 15, 1996. The motorist, Michael Shreckengost, later claimed the money belonged to him. He said he accidentally threw it out of his truck along with beer cans as police approached to ask him why his vehicle was parked on the side of a road, facing the wrong direction. Commonwealth Court ruled last year that the money should go to the state treasury instead of either Shreckengost or Richards. Both men appealed. It is now before the state Supreme Court.

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), March 10, 2000

Answers

Legalized HIGHWAY ROBBERY,I say.I always thought Lawyers make good Dog Food.

-- Solas (UR@risk.friend), March 10, 2000.

"He said he accidentally threw it out of his truck along with beer cans as police approached to ask him why his vehicle was parked on the side of a road, facing the wrong direction."

Looks like another Darwin award candidate to me.

Personally, I think the cop should be able to keep the money. He was simply removing "litter" from the side of the road. [grin]

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), March 10, 2000.


Aren't there fairly standard ways of handling found money? I don't see why the police officer should be treated any differently in that respect. Also, if the moron in the car obtained the $20k through legal channels he should be able to produce some documentation showing that it is his.

-- Michael (123@456.789), March 10, 2000.

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