Police investigated whether Red Sox banner really 'fell off a truck'

Police outside Boston investigated a claim that a trio of Malden residents found the Boston Red Sox 2018 AL East Championship banner after it supposedly fell off a truck in Somerville, Mass., according to Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo! Sports.

Louie Iacuzzi, one of three friends who apparently found the banner, initially said they were going to return it to the team before deciding to ask for a reward.

"In reciprocation, we would like to maybe go to like a nice playoff game," Iacuzzi said, according to Travis Anderson of The Boston Globe. "We’re looking for something. We just don’t want to hand it over to them. We need to negotiate here. We know that that’s the original one. We were told there was only one made."

Iacuzzi along with friends James Amaral and Randy Baldasarri said they saw what turned out to be the banner in the middle of the road while they were on a coffee run, and rescued it from being destroyed by traffic.

Tony LaFuente, owner of Flagraphics, which made the banner, said Thursday that a new one was already made. He also told the Globe he wasn't buying the claim that the three friends found it.

“These guys stole my banner" and "should be ashamed of themselves. This is not Boston," LaFuente said.

The Somerville Police began investigating the situation, but closed the matter on Friday at the request of LaFuente.

"The investigation has been closed at the request of the complainant," Somerville police said in a statement, according to Nik DeCosta-Klipa of Boston.com. "The SPD is no longer looking into the matter."

After defeating the New York Yankees on Thursday night, the Red Sox were finally able to hoist their banner celebrating the division championship outside Fenway Park.