Traffic cops in Melbourne, Florida, hand out lottery tickets to speedy drivers on Christmas
By Eric Pfeiffer
About 30 motorists pulled over for speeding on Christmas in the Florida city of Melbourne were greeted with a surprise: scratch-off lottery tickets, courtesy of the police.
“We're just doing a little bit of a different technique,” Sgt. Jamie Rocque told Florida Today. However, Rocque said the gifts came packaged with warnings or actual citations for drivers. And another Melbourne officer told ABC News that the lottery tickets were a one-time Christmas exception only. "I can tell you right now that no one is getting lottery tickets today," Sgt. Sheridan Shelley said. "Hopefully nobody has it in their mind to speed and expect to receive a lotto ticket — that was a one-shot deal for Christmas."
Still, Rocque said officers paid for the tickets with their own money. “It's something good to do in light of the holidays. We're getting a lot of surprised looks … people don’t know what to say,” he said.
And if anyone scratches off a winner, getting pulled over for speeding on Christmas might just turn out to be the best present of the year.
