After Suit Is Filed, Cops Relent and Return $12K Tip to Waitress
A Minnesota waitress will get to keep the $12,000 tip she turned over to police.
Stacy Knutson of Moorhead, Minn., filed suit last month after 90 days had passed, no one claimed the money, and police refused to return it. Police said the money smelled like marijuana and it was being held in a drug investigation.
On Thursday, Knutson’s lawyer, Craig Richie, said authorities have decided to return the money, report Reuters and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Knutson received her check Thursday night.
According to the suit, a customer left the money for Knutson in November when she was working at the Fry’n Pan restaurant. The money consisted of wads of bills in a takeout box for another restaurant. Knutson’s suit says she tried to return the box to the customer, not knowing what it contained, and the customer said, “No, I am good, you keep it.”
In the suit, Knutson outlined why she believes the customer left her the money, according to the Star Tribune. “As Christians we believe that there are angels among us, and I do not doubt this can be a testament to that,” Knutson wrote.
Knutson will use the money to pay medical bills, the Star Tribune says. She fractured her knee last May, keeping her away from work at the same time her husband was injured at work. She works full time at the Fry’n Pan and part time at two other jobs. “I never ever lost faith,” Knutson said as she received the check.
