Grinch gives out onions, not tickets

Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputy dresses as Grinch outside Stanley Switlik Elementary School

MARATHON, Fla. – A Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputy dressed as the Grinch handed out onions instead of tickets to drivers speeding outside a Florida Keys elementary school.

Lou Caputo, bureau chief at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, dressed as the character outside Stanley Switlik Elementary School Monday afternoon.

Armed with a radar gun, Caputo doled out about 10 onions to drivers who were speeding but going less than 5 mph above the speed limit in the school zone.

Caputo has worn the Grinch costume almost every holiday season since seeing actor Jim Carrey in the 2000 movie of the same name.

Caputo usually gives drivers the choice of taking the onion or receiving the ticket. Nine times out of 10, they take the onion.