A story I recently penned about an alleged mite infestation at the Knights Inn in Sterling Heights reminded me and made me chuckle about a story I did 15 months ago about a bed bug infestation at a Mount Clemens apartment building.

Bed bugs infested Frank Manion’s apartment, so Manion withheld his rent and was sued for eviction.

The case went to 41B District Court in Clinton Township. Manion’s attorney, the unpredictable James Galen, brought a jar full of about 15 of them into court to show to Judge Fuca. The landlord had to hire an exterminator.

While I was interviewing him in a conference room, Galen opened the jar and freed some of the tiny creates onto a piece of paper on a table. A courthouse cop went ballistic when he saw the scene -- Galen keeping the bugs on the paper using his fingers and tilting the sheet.

The cop said something to the effect, “Get the hell out of here with those bugs or I’ll arrest you!”

I couldn’t blame the cop. Could you imagine the havoc and bad publicity that a courthouse infestation would cause?

Galen afterward laughed about it, noting the bugs “were evicted from the court.”