Come and get it: Fleeing suspect abandons winning lottery ticket

The suspect left the winning ticket behind after he fled from a traffic stop. Photo / Supplied

A suspect in the US state of Georgia left his good luck behind when he abandoned a winning lottery ticket while fleeing sheriff's deputies.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office says the man had a Georgia Lottery scratch game card worth US$100 when he ran away during a traffic stop on Interstate 75 on Monday.

In a Facebook post, it offered its congratulations and invited him to claim the ticket at its office in Canton, about 64 kilometres north of Atlanta.

The man, who was not identified, was later taken into custody, sheriff's spokesman Capt. Jay Baker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

To the suspect who ran on foot from our deputies on a traffic stop this morning on I-75, you left a winning $100.00...

Posted by Cherokee Sheriff's Office - Georgia on Monday, 14 September 2020

Baker said the man was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a tag violation, and he ran into the woods.

The lottery ticket was in a backpack that also had methamphetamine, according to Baker.

The man can have the lottery ticket back, but the sheriff's office said it will keep the drugs.

- AP