Bizarre Moment Thief Throws Money During Police Chase

Police officers gather beside a patrol SUV at a taped-off scene
Photo: DanielJohn / Shutterstock

Police dashcam captured a driver flinging fistfuls of cash into the street as officers closed in.

Story Snapshot

  • Officers say a masked man made rapid ATM withdrawals with several cards before a chase began.
  • Dashcam video shows cash flying from a white pickup during the pursuit.
  • Police recovered more than $6,000 from the roadway after the stop.
  • Two men were arrested on evading, evidence-tampering, and ID-related charges.

Chase ignites after suspicious ATM spree in Pearland

Pearland police responded to a bank on the 9900 block of Broadway Street around 6 p.m. on September 16 after a report of a masked man making multiple ATM withdrawals with several cards. Officers watched two men get into a white GMC Sierra. The passenger stepped out and got detained. The driver sped away, and the pursuit began. Police later said the stop and arrests tied back to the wave of ATM transactions at the bank that triggered the call.

Patrol video recorded the driver tossing bundles of cash from the truck during the chase. Bills scattered across the road as officers followed. The clip spread fast online because it looks like a reverse bank run. The images tell a simple story: when the heat turned up, the money went out the window. That behavior matches why states write evidence-tampering laws the way they do, since ditching cash mid-chase can destroy a clean chain of proof.

Arrest, cash recovery, and the charges that followed

Police said the pursuit ended on the 1600 block of Max Road, where officers took the driver and passenger into custody without injuries to the public. Investigators gathered more than $6,000 from the roadway after tracking where the cash fell. Reports named the passenger as Tarvares Givens, charged with failure to identify, and the driver as Levon Steven Jr., charged with evading arrest and tampering with evidence. Those charges reflect the stop, flight, and the money-tossing seen on video.

Media accounts based on Pearland police information describe the sequence the same way across outlets. The thread runs clean: suspicious ATM activity, a quick vehicle link, a fleeing driver, visible cash discard, and a roadside recovery. That sequence is not rare in fraud-adjacent policing. Departments often build cases by interrupting live withdrawal runs, then sorting card ownership and losses after arrests. The public sees the chase; detectives later trace the cards and cash to victims or networks.

Why this scene resonates beyond one Texas roadway

Police and banks have grappled with rapid ATM-drain crews for years. Cases in other states and countries show the same pattern: bursts of withdrawals, multiple cards, and runners who try to dump evidence when stopped. Prosecutors then add counts like evading arrest, tampering, and fraud if the bank and card data confirm it. That mix of fast street stops and later paper trails explains why the video moment grabs attention while the financial legwork follows behind.

Common sense says the dashcam moment matters because jurors do not forget a picture. Throwing cash from a truck while police pursue aligns with a straightforward law-and-order view: flight and evidence dumping signal consciousness of guilt. The courts will still decide the fraud side, but the on-road acts already carry their own charges. That is why officers emphasize the recovery count and the named arrests, not just the viral clip. The camera may roll, but paperwork wins cases.

Sources:

nypost.com, kmbc.com, fox26houston.com, thehouston.org