Man gave kids $20 bills; police say he did nothing criminal

Police said it's a case of bad judgment. The Atlantic Beach Police Department questioned a man who drove up to a school bus stop and offered young children $20 bills.

A spokesperson for ABPD told Action News Jax it was a bad decision for the man to approach children at the bus stop on W. 2nd and Main streets.

According to the police report, a white SUV made its way down the street and then turned around to come back to the bus stop. That's when the person in the SUV offered children money, handing them $20 bills.

This particular incident happened March 30 and ABPD started investigating earlier this week.

We spoke to the grandmother of a 7-year-old who was approached. She said a man pulled up and tried to hand her grandson and a 10-year-old girl $20 bills.

“I said, ‘Why did you all take the money,’ and he said, ‘Well, because he said he wanted to make our day,’” the grandmother said.

That grandmother said the police department said it is going to keep an eye on the area.

“They told us they would be keeping a better eye on the area, especially during bus time. We may not know that they're there, but they're there,” she said.

We spoke to a man who knows the person who was handing out $20 bills. He said that man is a nice guy who didn't mean any harm and was simply trying to be nice to the two kids standing at this bus stop.

ABPD said it has spoken with the man who gave the children $20 bills; however, they said at this point, he has not done anything criminal.

The grandmother we spoke with also said this is a great example of having an important conversation with her grandson about stranger danger.

Cox Media Group