Audio By Carbonatix
Money might not grow on trees, but cash was certainly blowing in the wind Tuesday afternoon after a 40-mile car chase of a suspected bank robber ended at the St. Monica Catholic Church parking lot in Miami Gardens.
“That guy is starting to throw some stuff out of the window,” says the unidentified camera operator in the WTVJ NBC 6 news chopper. “He’s throwing money out of the window.”
It began shortly before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, when a machete-wielding man in a hooded sweatshirt and mask entered a TD Bank branch in Delray Beach. According to a federal criminal complaint (embedded below), a man identified as Herve Fils Viaud threatened to “cut” the assistant manager’s throat if his demands weren’t met. He was given a bag containing $1,234 in bait money embedded with tracking devices, and the bank’s panic alarm was activated.
It was a scene straight out of a heist movie as the suspect hopped into a dark-colored SUV and headed southbound on I-95. Officers pursued the SUV through Broward and Miami-Dade counties, eventually cornering Viaud in the St. Monica Catholic Church parking lot on NW 191st Street in Miami Gardens.
After a ten-minute standoff, it suddenly started to rain – and we don’t mean precipitation.
Video shows the driver reaching toward the passenger and tossing cash into the wind. Officers nearby keep their guns trained on him as the bills are carried into gusts of wind in a display reminiscent of the paper bag scene from American Beauty.
#BREAKING: Delray Beach bank robber tosses money from getaway car, police say https://t.co/Kr9cnh8Tbt pic.twitter.com/nj3QAKOyPp
— WPTV (@WPTV) February 1, 2022
Viaud surrendered shortly after noon and was taken into custody by the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Delray Beach police, who responded to the initial bank robbery report, say the case has been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The federal complaint states that officers “recovered the money on the scene.”
It’s unclear whether all of the money was recovered. A call to the Saint Monica Catholic Church was not immediately returned. We presume they were too busy doing this.
