Detroit district courtroom cleared after bedbugs seen crawling on man

DETROIT (AP) -- Bailiffs first removed the man with bedbugs crawling on him last Thursday from Wayne County 36th District Court Judge Cylenthia LaToye Miller's Detroit courtroom. They then cleared the first row where he had been sitting before Miller emptied the courtroom and sent her staff home. "I evacuated the courtroom today due to a man with live bedbugs for everybody's well-being," Miller said. Her staff went home on administrative leave when she couldn't move her cases to another courtroom, The Detroit News reported. "It's not our fault," Miller told them. Bedbugs have become a terror in and around Detroit and other parts of Michigan in recent years. City bus drivers claimed earlier this year that the blood-sucking pests were spotted on some coaches. Last October, about 200 of the tiny, pesky flat-backed critters were found in a room at the Taylor Public Library, southwest of Detroit. In 2010, the U.S. Postal service temporarily stopped mail delivery at a Detroit senior citizens apartment building after a carrier encountered exterminators wearing suits similar to those worn by hazardous materials workers. The building was treated for a bedbug infestation. Pest control company Terminix said two years ago that Detroit was one of the nation's most bedbug-infested cities. The daughter of the man removed from Miller's courtroom said last Thursday that she knew her father's home had a bedbug problem. Thousands of people move through the court building each day, creating potential pest control problems for officials. Each quarter, a company sprays 36th District Court for bedbugs. A bedbug-sniffing dog also is taken through the building. Published: Mon, Aug 27, 2012