Two New York men wheeled the corpse of their friend around the sidewalks of midtown Manhattan in an office chair in a failed attempt to cash his $355 Social Security cheque, police said.
Virgilio Cintron (66) had already died of natural causes when two of his friends, both aged 65, brought him to a cheque-cashing store in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood on Tuesday.
”They were trying to pass him off as still being alive,” police spokesperson Paul Browne said.
The two suspects left the corpse on the sidewalk while they attempted to cash the cheque, but the clerk knew Cintron and asked to see him.
The two men promised to bring him right back, but when they went outside to retrieve him a crowd had gathered around the dead man. An on-duty detective who had been eating lunch nearby spotted Cintron and immediately realised he was dead, putting an end to the caper. — Reuters