Bedbug-Covered Man Forces Evacuation of Manhattan Courtroom: Report

An exterminator was called in to spray down the area

Thursday, Jul 18, 2013  |  Updated 11:22 AM EDT

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A Manhattan courtroom was briefly evacuated Tuesday after bedbugs were spotted crawling up the neck of a man who showed up to answer a desk-appearance ticket, according to a published report.

The woman who first noticed the bloodsucking creepy crawlers yelped to others in the courtroom and chaos ensued; several people ran out of the proceedings, including the man with the bugs on him, the Daily News reported.

A Manhattan Criminal Court spokesman confirmed to the News that there was bug-related havoc in one of the arraignment rooms around 11:30 a.m., but said that no evidence of bedbugs was found in the area. 

Court officers called in an exterminator as a precaution. The courtroom was evacuated for a time during the extermination treatment, and when it reopened, the three rows near where the alleged bug man had been sitting were roped off.

Some court-goers were still highly disturbed by the idea of the bugs, despite court officers' assurances there was no evidence of bugs in the room even before the exterminator was called in. 

"People were scratching themselves. Everyone in the courtroom was uncomfortable," one witness told the News. "I'm still scratching myself. Just telling the story I get itchy."