On Tuesday afternoon, Michael Hegedus was in his backyard teaching a beekeeping course when the cops arrived. They had blocked of his street, and Hegedus was handcuffed and thrown into a cell at the 79th Precinct where he was kept for an hour before released with two desk appearance summonses.
His crime? Thousands of bees had escaped his car and swarmed the block. Hegedus told reporters he had ordered starter beehives for a friend, and they were in his car so he could drive them to Manhattan at the end of his class. But Tuesday was a hot day, and on hot days, bees are evidently capable of chewing through layers of plastic to freedom. They escaped the sweltering vehicle and wreaked havoc throughout the block. The NYPD called in the force’s bee expert (that would make a great TV show) and within 90 minutes, nearly all the buzzing scoundrels had beens restrained in a vacuum.
Hegedus was apparently rather embarrassed. “I’m quite the teacher if I’m getting arrested in the middle of class. It was an unfortunate unfolding of events. [But] I’ll take the rap for the bees.” (Photo: Alan Taylor/Flickr)
