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Man tossing $100 bills into the air sparks fights on Las Vegas Strip

Updated August 28, 2017 - 7:34 am

Fights broke out among Strip clubgoers Monday when a man began throwing $100 bills in the air, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. David Gordon said.

The incident brought police in large numbers to The Cromwell for the second time in as many days. Officers made two arrests.

About 4 a.m., a crowd streaming out of Drai’s, a beachclub and nightclub at the casino, was thrown into chaos near the east valet area when a man holding a stack of $100 bills decided to share the wealth, police said.

“As you might expect, it caused quite the commotion,” Gordon said. At one point, the crowd swelled to about 1,000 people fighting over the bills.

Patrol cars and other emergency responders used the valet drive at Bally’s as a staging area to dispatch officers to the valet area of The Cromwell, 3503 Las Vegas Blvd. South, facing Flamingo Road. Gordon said additional officers had to be pulled from other Metro area commands to help with crowd control.

Responding Metro officers directed pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area, but Las Vegas Boulevard remained open during the incident.

At about 5 a.m., police slowly were letting people back into the property, but it appeared the parking garage remained closed.

Officers were seen handcuffing a shouting, struggling man in the valet area about 5:30 a.m. Metro confirmed that two misdemeanor arrests were made. No injuries were reported during the incident.

Early Sunday, The Cromwell and Drai’s were evacuated after reports of a shooting that turned out to be false.

Metro officers were on scene by about 1:15 a.m. to the reported shooting, resulting in a rapid evacuation of the casino floor and the property’s nightclubs.

The Police Department’s investigation found no shots were fired. Large statues were knocked to the tile floor during a fight near Drai’s, causing panic and prompting the reports of a shooting.

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter. Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Rio Lacanlale contributed to this report.

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