A Detroit man’s dying wish to make money fall from the sky has come true.
Darrell Thomas, a 58-year-old car wash owner and well-known local businessman, died after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease on June 15, but wanted to shower his community in one final act of generosity.
In late June, Thomas made it rain from beyond the grave when a helicopter, organized by his family, hovered above pedestrians and cars on Gratiot Avenue on Detroit’s east side and released thousands of dollars in cash and rose petals from above, People magazine and The Detroit News reported.
Lisa Knife, an employee at Airport Express Lube and Service, told The Detroit News that the late owner of a local car wash had made the cash drop his final wish and said that “everybody got a little bit [of money]” to take home.”
A video, shot by Crystal Perry, Thomas’s niece, appears to have been captured from inside a car driving on the highway directly underneath the helicopter. The footage shows plumes of banknotes blowing towards the vehicle, with people rushing to pick them up from the middle of the street.
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Anaya Toney, an employee in the area where the money was released, told People magazine that she noticed bank notes falling from the sky just before she began work and recalled “so many people” running to grab handfuls of free cash
“It was actually kind of crazy,” she said, adding that six lanes of traffic came to a standstill as people left their cars and ran towards the scattered bills.
Knife said police arrived and that a part of the street was closed for 30 minutes as a result.
Toney said that despite a chaotic rush for the cash, everyone kept the peace and only took their fair share.
“There was no fighting, none of that,” she said. “It was really beautiful.”
Footage from the drop has been circulating online and shows the moment onlookers realized that money was flying out from beneath the hovering aircraft.
One video posted on Instagram by Thomas’s family shows cars stopped in the middle of the highway and passersby cheering as the cash floats elegantly down to the ground.
“Our Pops Wouldn’t Want It No Other Way,” the caption reads.
A TikTok user filmed the packed highway at a complete stop while people ran towards the helicopter in the hopes of getting their hands on a few dollars.
In a message to her late uncle, Perry wrote on Facebook, “Them boys SHUT Gratiot down on both sides dropped a light five bands & rose petals out the helicopter for my uncle P. A Eastside Legend.”