Florida man found abandoned fanny pack in a public restroom — what was inside sent him straight to the police
The owner was worried that whoever found it would run away with it, but Salazar's two-line response to this truly showed the kind of man he was
Finding something valuable in public can truly test one's character, but Luis Salazar's actions proved that there are still good people in this world. One day, while using a Wawa restroom in Riviera Beach, he saw a fanny pack on a handrail in one of the stalls. Thinking it belonged to the person who used the stall before him, he tried to find the owner of the bag, but had no luck. He opened it to check for ID, but was stunned by what was inside. The story was reported by WPBF 25 News on May 9, which has received 64,190 views and 985 likes so far.
Search for the owner
Instead of keeping the money for himself, he spent several days trying to find the owner. However, it wasn't until the owner himself reported the money missing to the Riviera Beach police that Salazar could finally return the money. The officers used CCTV footage to track down Salazar and contact him. He rushed to the station with the money to return it to the rightful owner. He described the exchange, "So, I give him his bag. 'This is yours,'" Salazar said, and the man hugged him and cried. Apparently, the huge sum of money was meant for a family emergency, and the owner was extremely grateful for Salazar's kindness.
'It's not my money'
The owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, was worried that whoever found the money would run away with it. He told the news outlet, "I was pretty astonished that anybody would have done that. Think about it. That’s life-changing money. People would kill for that kind of money." Salazar's two-line response to this truly showed the kind of man he was. He said, "It’s not my money to take. I was not raised that way." The outlet also reported that the owner and Salazar were making dinner plans as a way of thanking him.
Lost wallet theory
David Tannenbaum, a professor at the University of Utah, and three other researchers decided to test how many people would actually return a lost wallet. The experiment was conducted in 40 different countries using 17,000 wallets with different amounts of cash. They found that 72% of the wallets with the most money were returned. This was 11% more than the wallets with $13.45. Surprisingly, it was 26% more than wallets that had no cash.
They also checked to see if anyone had taken some money from the wallets. They found that 98% of the wallets returned had the same amount of money. At the beginning of the experiment, Tannenbaum said, "We went in thinking that people were going to be less likely to return these wallets. Much to our surprise, when the research came back, it had done the exact opposite – people were more likely to return the wallet when it had money in it. We couldn't believe it." This goes to show that good people like Salazar and the people who returned the wallets still exist.
People in the comments applauded Luis Salazar's honesty and integrity. @annieama3027 wrote, "Dinner? He needs to give that man at least $3,000. I mean, at least." @geepjohnson added, "We need more Mr. Salazars!"
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