Man’s honest act after wild Los Angeles bank robbery

Scores of Los Angeles residents scrambled Wednesday to stuff their pockets with cash being tossed into the streets by bank robbers on the run.

But out of the chaos emerged Sal Reyes.

"You have to give it back," Reyes told KNBC-TV.

At first, Reyes said, he didn't know what was going on as the suspects' getaway car and police cruisers zipped through his neighborhood.

"There were mothers leaving their kids and they were just grabbing the money, and there was just money in the air," he said. "It was just everywhere."

Reyes scooped up bills, too, but took an undisclosed amount to a police station once he learned it had been stolen from a Bank of America.

"You can't just go spend money that's not yours," he told the TV station.

Many others didn't adopt his golden rule.

"It's our neighborhood stimulus package!" a laughing Diane Dorsey told the Los Angeles Times after watching the cash scramble unfold from her front yard.

"Kids were smiling like it was Christmas," a neighbor told the newspaper.

Some residents described the thieves as modern-day Robin Hoods, but police weren't buying it.

"Robin Hood is not how I would describe these guys," police Cmdr. Andy Smith told the Los Angeles Times. "It's just the worst side of human nature."

A police spokesman told Yahoo News that detectives have not yet determined why the suspects tossed their treasure.

Those who pocketed the loot are just as guilty, too, a former federal prosecutor told Yahoo News.

"The money was not heaven-sent," said Philip Hilder, a veteran Texas attorney. "The fact that they didn't originally take the money is of no consequence if they knew the money had been stolen. Anybody who keeps the cash is going to be buying themselves a lot of unwanted trouble."

Police say they are reviewing video from news coverage to help them locate the greedy grabbers.