'Grinch' Florida cop gives out onions instead of speeding tickets

A Florida police officer is issuing onions to speeders instead of tickets. Dressed up as the "Grinch", he is giving motorists who are only "slightly" speeding over the limit a choice of an onion or a ticket.

Lou Caputo, the Bureau Chief in Florida's Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, has been passing out onions instead of tickets for those motorists caught going only "slightly" over posted speed limits, reported the Sun-Sentinel. Not every speeder, however, gets the choice of an onion. Only the motorists who are traveling no more than 5-mph over the speed limit can get an onion, anyone pushing the speed limits beyond 5-mph get the ticket. On Monday, 10 lucky speeders accepted an onion as opposed to a fine. Local authorities say that 9 out of 10 motorists who are eligible for the onion accept it after getting zapped by Caputo's radar gun, reported NBC Miami. Reportedly, Caputo has been doing this every holiday for over 10 years and dons the "Grinch" costume in order to remind drivers to slow down in the school zone. The police officer told the media he was inspired by the idea after seeing the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" when it was released in 2000. “The Grinch was always a favorite of mine because he’s a rascal but turns out to be a good guy.” Caputo shared with ABC News. “My wife hand-made my hands, pants and hat.”