Reports of bedbugs crawling on a man waiting to appear for a desk appearance ticket put a temporary halt on proceedings at Manhattan Criminal Court's arraignment part on Tuesday. According to news reports, around 11:30 a.m. that day, a woman in the arraignment room announced that a man near her had bedbugs crawling on him. The Daily News reported that several people—including the purported bedbug carrier—"raced out" of the courtroom as a result. The article said proceedings continued for about 20 minutes before an exterminator arrived, with court officers emptying out the rows near the alleged sighting.
Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver said Thursday that ultimately no bedbugs were found. "Over the past few years, any public place is vulnerable to bedbugs. People come, people go. Apparently in the courtroom the other day, folks in the audience thought they saw what they believed to be bedbugs. We took the prophylactic measure of spraying," he said.