D Train Passengers Panic As Woman Lets Live Crickets Loose
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was a crazy scene on the subway this week, when live crickets suddenly began jumping all over passengers and causing panic and chaos.
As CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported, it started when a deranged woman was apparently trying to sell live crickets and worms on the D Train between Chinatown and Brooklyn Wednesday evening.
But somehow, the creepy critters got free.
Passenger Ezra Mechaber took to Twitter about the incident.
Another rider, John Ray, posted to Facebook: "We had no idea what was happening, just heard yelling, then screaming, then something flew in the air (the crickets...)"
With live insects jumping on them, passengers freaked out rushing to try to get away.
In the chaos, somebody pulled the emergency brake and the train came to a screeching halt on the Manhattan Bridge, it ended up stuck there for half an hour.
Some straphangers on the D Train said that was the wrong move.
"You didn't improve your situation by pulling that," said subway rider Pinny Gold. "You get stuck with the crickets."
Mechaber also tweeted that stopping the train made things worse.
And some subway riders called being trapped in a crowded train with insects their worst nightmare.
"I hate bugs!" one said.
"It's really gross!" another said.
Others called it no big deal.
"I have a bearded dragon, so it eats worms and crickets and crazy things," said subway passenger Natasha Rampl.
"I'm a scaffolder. I'm always working up there. I'm not afraid of much," said subway passenger Kivie Vega, "certainly not crickets and worms."
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed that the woman, described as emotionally disturbed, was taken off the train at DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, and bugged out commuters finally got to go home.
There were no reports of anyone being hurt in the chaos.
The woman's name had not been released late Thursday.
