Courtroom evacuated in panic after bed bugs found crawling up defendant's neck

Monday, July 29, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: bed bugs, courtroom, evacuation

(NaturalNews) Pandemonium broke out in a New York courtroom recently after a defendant who showed up to answer a desk-appearance ticket was observed to be covered in what witness say appeared to be bed bugs. As reported by NBC New York, people began screaming and the courtroom was evacuated after a woman sitting near the unidentified man noticed the tiny bloodsuckers crawling up his neck, sparking a wave of panic.

The hysteria broke out around 11:30 a.m. on July 16, during a historic East Coast heatwave, in the Manhattan Criminal Court when a woman sitting near the man screamed at the sight of the bugs. Court observers in the back of the room immediately rose from their seats and began fleeing the scene, which prompted a court officer in the front of the room to ask what was happening. Another woman stood up and announced that bed bugs had been seen in the court, which led to even more chaos.

According to the New York Daily News (NYDN), both court observers and the defendant himself left the premises during the commotion, and the room was fully evacuated not long after to make way for an exterminator. The room was then sprayed with chemicals to eliminate any remaining bugs and eventually reopened with the final three seating rows cordoned off with yellow police tape.

"People were scratching themselves," said one courtroom witness to reporters about the harrowing situation. "Everyone in the courtroom was uncomfortable. I'm still scratching myself. Just telling the story I get itchy."

Though no actual bed bugs were ever found inside the courtroom, court personnel did not want to take any chances by allowing people back inside without first exterminating the area, in the event that a few of the creepy-crawlers were to suddenly spring up from off the floor or seats. As you may already be aware, bed bug infestations are a growing problem across the U.S., and ridding an area of them once they have embedded themselves can be difficult.

"Court personnel were notified and immediately inspected the courtroom," said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the court, concerning how the situation was handled. "As a prophylactic measure, the courtroom was sprayed."

As far as the bug-infested defendant is concerned, it is unclear from reports what actually became of him following the ruckus. Perhaps he got out of having to deal with his ticket by scaring everyone away and fleeing for his own benefit?

Sources for this article include:

http://www.nydailynews.com

http://www.nbcnewyork.com

http://www.nbcnews.com