Boston Cabbie Returns Backpack With $187,000 In Cash Inside Of It

(Source) — On Friday afternoon, July 1, 2016, a Boston Hackney Driver picked up a fare in the area of Mass Ave and Tremont Street. Upon dropping the fare at his destination, the cab driver realized the fare had left a backpack in the rear seat of the taxi. In search of identification, the cab driver opened the backpack and discovered approximately $187,000 in cash inside. The driver immediately brought the bag and cash to Boston Police Headquarters and turned the property over to the BPD Hackney Unit. As officers inventoried the bag, they received a call from the fare stating he had, indeed, left the backpack in the cab. When the owner of the property arrived, he provided proof of ownership and, thanks to the upstanding, honest hackney driver, was reunited with his backpack and money. 

Said Police Commissioner William Evans, “This hackney driver exhibited exemplary behavior and his honest deed should be recognized. His actions represent the high standards that our department has for our drivers.”

I know everyone always says “WHAT AN IDIOT” to stories like this, and that’s mostly true. To have $187k in the palm of your hands then simply say no thanks is pretty preposterous. But, I see both sides of it. I honestly have no idea what I’d do. It’s easy to sit here at my computer and pretend I’d take the money and run, but you never know who the fuck you’re stealing from. That dude knew where he forgot his backpack and he was going to get his money back one way or another, if you took it and ran he’s not going to be in a great mood when he catches up to you. $187,000 is a lot of goddamned money, but it’s nowhere near “set for life” money. It’s not even quit your job money. Yeah, in a perfect world I’d have almost 200 grand but I also don’t want to be on the bad side of a guy who walks around with that kind of cash.

Which leads me to the important part of this story: did the cops just hand him is bag of money and send him on his way? I haven’t had more than like 40 dollars on me in my entire life but I’m pretty sure if you need a backpack to carry all your walking around money then you probably obtained it illegally. That’s just a guess. The only people who carry cash in 2016 are grandfathers and drug dealers. Gotta imagine the cops asked him a question or two, right?

h/t Fred