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According to NYC the Blog, a rather revolting incident took place on on the 2 train Saturday night. Arron Howell, the blogger's roommate, revealed through a series of tweets that he "saw a homeless man on the subway with bugs crawling all over him. I am freaked out I was close to him." Howell said he has "no doubt" the critters were bedbugs, but given the tiny size of the parasites—adults don't exceed 4-5 mm in length—Howell would have had to get pretty close to the guy in order to see them.
Bedbug presence in the subway isn't unheard of; last year a city bedbug expert reported seeing them on the subway benches at the Union Square subway station. Like most New Yorkers, Howell's fears quickly turned litigious; his second tweet after spotting the man was, "If I get bed bugs I am suing the MTA." According to Howell, an MTA employee summoned the police, who ejected the man from the train. Tweets Howell: "I guess its illegal to ride train w/bugs since cops kicked the dude off. When guy rubbed hair one bug shot off him towards peeps across."
Bedbugs are known to travel from place to place in clothing, so the story seems plausible enough, though we doubt there's an MTA regulation specifically prohibiting bedbug hosts. (We're waiting for a statement from NYC Transit.) Last week Mayor Bloomberg appointed an Advisory Board to come up with solutions to the city's bedbug epidemic; they're to report back with a plan in about 9 months. In the meantime, here's a vivid National Geographic segment on bedbugs. Enjoy!
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how could he have bedbugs when he doesn't have a bed?
and, it's below freezing this morning, can they survive in extreme cold temps?
They've got blankets!
Maybe it was lice?
Much more likely, really. Bed bugs are the current big fear, so they're what people think of first right now but bed bugs don't stay on people for long periods of time. They're generally nocturnal, and nest in dark and enclosed places. You might find one or two on someone's clothing if they've been out to feed when the person dressed and left (they may stay in unworn clothing for some time) but they don't swarm all over someone the way lice or fleas will.
Stuff of nightmares, whether is was bedbugs or lice. I would have run from that train car screaming.
I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral one year for Christmas Mass. It was very crowded and my party and I had to split up among the pews. One of my friends sat right behind a homeless guy who was passed out in a pew, and was covered with bugs. My friend tried his best to be Christian and not pass judgment, or throw up, but it was tough!
At least those bugs found salvation.
Speaking of infestations, thanks Gothamist for giving your reading population a collective case of the heebee jeebees.
And this is why I refuse to sit on subway benches.
Last time I really needed to rest my feet and sit on a subway bench, 3 rats ran under and around my feet. Freaking out alone on a narrow desolate train platform covered in aggressive rodents gave me the energy I needed to keep moving.
Me Too!!!!
Has anyone ever wondered why you would choice to be homeless in NY? i mean for the ones that kind of have a choice where to be homeless
Yellowfoot, that has to be the winner for the most stupid post I have ever seen on Gothamist!!!
If you had the choice to not be covered in bugs and your own piss, likely an addict and/or mentally ill, generally filthy and socially outcast, you'd probably choose not to be. 99.99% of the humans in the universe would choose not to be. To choose it, one has to be very screwed up, very desperate or very ill and perhaps not inclined towards good decision making in general, methinks.
Or maybe they're an NYU student conducting a social experiment.
"Has anyone ever wondered why you would choice to be homeless in NY? i mean for the ones that kind of have a choice where to be homeless"
Because NYC is so exciting and hip! Why shouldn't homeless people enjoy it!
Ok, lets move them all out... Obama and Bloomberg can set the income limits on who may and may not live here.
s/ off
That's the stuff of nightmares. I'm now itching all over.
wouldn't mind paying the higher prices the MTA wants if they took the homeless out of there...
Mr. Howell missed the opportunity for a healthy snack:
http://tinyurl.com/dkp5kj
avoid the wooden benches at all costs. Its sad that any human being would be covered in bugs, but also kind of gross for everyone else.
Once I was about to sit down on one of those wooden benches on the platform when a man crawled out from underneath. I think he'd been sleeping under there.
"If I get bed bugs I am suing the MTA."
is "arron" a teenaged girl?
No, that's just the quality of content when it comes to twitter.
I am pretty sure they were baby bedbugs, not full grown and too big to be lice for sure ... my take is that the dude was smoking or shooting in some den for days, he still looked faded, and when the itching got to bad he left the place ... so I must of saw him just after he started moving.
The cops did kick him off, the MTA employee did point him out to the cops, and yes it freaked me out.
It is sad people make racist slurs and talk about killing the homeless ... maybe you should all watch "Night and Fog" I am sure it is available in the library.
There is a special place in bed bug hell for some of you for sure.
FYI - The homeless man had his whole bench, some drunk girl was right next to him and I was like four seats away. I didn't notice the bugs until the MTA employee pointed them out to me, and I only was sitting down for a second.
Jeez! This why I hate blogs, give my the NYTimes any day.
I once saw a large roach fall out of a homeless guys pants when he got off his seat in the train. A group of kids freaked out and and I lifted my feet up as I saw the thing crawl towards my seat. Luckily, my stop was up next. Bed bugs/lice are creepier because you may take one home without even knowing it. Thanks Gothamist! I'll be feeling skeeved all day.
The city is liable for this and should be sued if this incident results in spreading bedbugs to our less unkempt citizens. The Mayor should have forseen this and formulate some sort of plan to combat dirty bums. Such a plan should include Soap & Water, and possibly the introduction of 'Food Stamps' that are accepted at local laundry mats.
OMG- next stop, your laundry bag!
I witnessed a bum taking a shit on the platform while seated on one of those wooden benches. He dropped his pants shifted forward and crapped right in front of a Transit Cop... too bad I didn't twitter about it!
S(h)itting is not an option on those benches.
yuck.
Easy solution. Start killing bums ad winos and no more disgusting freak out episodes anymore.
Remember, "homeless" is an euphemism. You give those guys a home and they would still be bums.
Weren't the vampires and werewolves supposed to do that, like in 'Wolfen'?
Why can't the homeless all play the cello like the nice man I saw on 60 Minutes last night.
that is until you try to get into the room his cello is in, then he'll go all F-bomb on you.
You know, none of you seemed that terrified by the posts about machete-wielding gangs, random arrow shootings, NYC sinking into the ocean, economic doom, or massive mass transit cuts.
But a few lice on a homeless dude and everyone is pissing their pants. I love it.
Randomness, natural disasters, and economic doom are overwhelmingly terrifying. So much so that I'd rather not think about them. But I can take one homeless guy and his insect menagerie.
I sat next to this well-dressed lady but her hair was a large unwashed bun and something from it jumped to me. I ran home to scrub myself raw.
Ugh, this is one of the few downsizes of NYC.
NY Bugs and not clean NY people: EEEW.
But i truly find more scary the singing/talking alone on subways.
There's a smelly bum on the Broadway-Lafayette platform who every so often takes his ratty sneakers off to air out his crusty, ashy, sore-covered, vomit-inducing feet that he props up when crossing his legs so every passerby can be repulsed to his delight.
That man has been there for almost a decade. He is very polite. Says hello to those he sees on the platform daily and nevers asks anyone for anything. Often when not sleeping on the bench he can be seen drawing on a piece of scrap paper or a sketchbook someone probably gave him.
Yes, he does smell some days but I don't think he can help it, maybe he couldn't take a shower that day or get new socks. His smell isn't nearly as offensive as some of the ones who are in subway cars. Atleast he has enough consideration not to trap us in a car with his smell. Someone must be looking out for him because he is not starving and or annoying anyone and he has stuff off to the side in bags.
He's a harmless hobo. There are so many other's that you can pick on, he's not one of them.
This is why working as an EMT or paramedic in Manhattan can be a miserable job sometimes.
Who do you think has to deal with people? Your EMS service!
/vomits
So here's what i don't get(and i've had my fair share of homeless experiences).... how is this guy sitting close enough to see tiny bugs, on what he describes as clearly someone who is homeless, honestly, when was the last time you were sitting THAT CLOSE to a homeless person and only moved when you saw bugs, maybe my nose is super sensitive but, this just isn't making sense.
#37 there are plenty of people out there who don't have a sense of their surroundings and have no idea who or what is around them at the time.
god these bums are disgusting. The homeless should be burned at the stake. The city can charge admission for each one and then we can enjoy the benefits of a city with more money, less disgusting vagrants, and less human feces on the subway steps (except those nyu kids rofl)
Wait a minute...Isn't this the New York City grit you all want????
This is why I try to avoid sitting next to asians on the subway.
http://gothamist.com/2008/04/09/coffeeteaor_the.php
I rode the uptown train with the homeless man in question in February and I didn't have to be very close to him to see that his clothes were absolutely alive with little creepy crawlies. If there were two men who fit this description, it would be sad and I would be very surprised. I don't know on what grounds the police can remove him from the train, or keep him from getting back on, but I hope he received help getting a new coat and a place for the night.