Merry Troopers Eschew Tickets, Hand Out $100 Bills

'Secret Santa' funds WVa. giveaway
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 24, 2014 2:01 AM CST
State Troopers Hand Out $100 Bills
Marie Davis gives West Virginia State Police Trooper DC Graham a hug after receiving a $100 bill as part of a Secret Santa project funded by an anonymous donor in Princeton, W. Va.    (AP Photo/Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

Being pulled over by a state trooper and asked if you feel lucky might sound like the start of an unpleasant encounter but for 10 motorists in West Virginia, it really was their lucky day. Instead of a ticket, the drivers were handed a $100 bill as part of a Secret Santa giveaway funded by an anonymous donor, the AP reports. Troopers with the Princeton Detachment say that a man—who said he wasn't rich but had some money he wanted to give back to the community—told them he had heard about similar giveaways and gave them $1,000 to hand out.

The troopers handed out candy canes as well as cash to the surprised drivers. "It's actually a privilege today to give out $100 bills because when people deal with law enforcement, it's not always happy smiles, it's usually in a negative way," a trooper tells the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. "So it's good to be able to provide some joy instead of negativity to these people." (Last Christmas, a Reddit user's Secret Santa turned out to be Bill Gates.)

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