PHILADELPHIA -- Joey Coyle, the man who found $1.2 million that fell from a Purolator armored car and was acquitted of theft charges, has sued charging the company's negligence made him crazy.
Coyle, 30, an unemployed longshoreman at the time, found two sacks of money on the street Feb. 26, 1981. Coyle, who never denied taking the money, was arrested in New York by FBI agents March 3, 1981 when he tried to flee the country with $105,000 in $100 bills stuffed in his boots.
He was charged with theft, receiving stolen goods and theft of mislaid or stolen property. But on March 5, 1982, a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity.
His attorney, Harold Kane, filed suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Friday asking for the minimum amount of damages of $20,000. Kane, who refused to discuss exactly how much in damages Coyle would be seeking, said however, he would be asking 'for a lot of money.'
Kane said the suit charged Purolator with negligence for not properly securing the money that fell from the back of a truck without the driver knowing it.
'We're suing basically for their failure to use responsible care in the way they transported money,' Kane said. 'As a result of which my client was injured.'
He said Coyle suffered 'serious physical and emotional injuries' and finding the money 'shocked him into a state of insanity.'
Coyle allegedly spent $196,000 of the money in a six-day spree before his arrest. All but that amount of the money was recovered, some found stashed in weeds in a vacant South Philadelphia lot.
Jurors questioned after finding Coyle not guilty said they reached their conclusion by simply putting themselves in Coyle's place.
Juror Millicent Seagraves said, throughout the trial she asked herself what whe would have done if she had been in Coyle's place.
Her conclusion was 'probably the same thing.'
Following his acquittal, Coyle said in a published interview finding the money 'was better than sex,' but he added, keeping the money was stupid.
