[tps_title]50 or 100 bed bugs found and 3 killed[/tps_title]
A. So I killed about three of them with the napkin, because there was at least — I’m sure there was 50 or a hundred. But there was a lot of them. I killed about three of them with a napkin. I went out in my pajamas, I took it to the front desk, and I gave the napkin to Desiree Scott. We had conversation. I don’t know if you want me to go into detail of that.
Q. I was just going to ask you, yes. So at that point — is this your first time talking to Ms. Scott?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And you’re still in your PJs, you’ve got the napkin —
A. Yes.
Q. — and it’s filled with about three bedbugs, you said?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you take a picture or anything of the napkin with the bedbugs?
A. No.
Q. Okay. So you talk to Ms. Scott. What do you say to her initially?
A. I asked her could I speak to the manager. She asked if she could help me. I told her that there were bugs in my bed. And she says, Are they in there now? I told her yes. I said, And here’s three of them — or here is a couple of them in the napkin. I gave her the napkin. She said could I wait a minute, and she talked to someone, I don’t know if it was a manager.
Q. Did she go on the phone or how did —
A. She walked out of the receptionist area to a back door. And she said she would check the room once we leave. I told her we were checking out within a half an hour, and she asked me to leave information with her so she can contact me.
Q. What did you do with the napkin at that point?
A. I gave it to Ms. Desiree Scott.
Q. Okay. Did she look at the napkin? Did she say anything about the napkin?
A. No. She wrapped it up and put it in another napkin for the manager to see. That’s what she — she said she would give the napkin to the manager.
Q. Okay. But she never acknowledged what she saw or —
A. No.
Q. — acknowledged seeing the napkin? Okay. And so after that back and forth where you left her information and you gave her the napkin, you went back to your room?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And what did you do at that point?
A. At that point, we packed up and getting ready to get back on the charter bus to go to church.
Q. Okay.
A. After I got dressed, obviously.
Q. Okay. And you said you did that about 30 minutes?
A. Yes.
Q. So you checked out. During that period, did you see any more bugs back in the room when you went back?
A. Yes.
Q. And you saw them where?
A. They were on — still on my pillow.
Q. Okay.
A. And my mom said, By the way, my ankle was itching last night.
Q. Okay.
A. And then I pulled back her spread and there was about ten bedbugs in her ankle area, the ankle area. And she said, I’m glad I chose this bed and not the other bed because I’m diabetic, I don’t think I could have survived that.
Q. Okay.
A. So there was only about 10 or 15 in her bed, which I took a video of that as well.
Q. Okay. Let’s see if we can pull that one up. (Video played.)
A. That’s me at home. That’s another one.
Q. Okay.
A. That’s at the — a little bit ahead. Uh-huh. That’s as the bites start swelling. (Video played.)
Q. Could you have done it all at the same time?
A. Yes.
Q. Your mother’s and —
A. Oh, no. I did — I think I did my video first, and then I did hers later. Or it could have been at the same time. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s in the same video.
Q. Okay. I think it might have been when I reviewed the video.
A. Okay.
Q. But at some point you took both videos —
A. Right. But she told me later on that her ankle was itching, so I didn’t know it was the same video, I thought I had stopped videotaping.
Q. Did you look at her ankle to see — note anything on it?
A. No, because she said she was just itching, not as bad as I was itching. I thought maybe she got bit by a mosquito. But she asked me to look in her bed for her. She was afraid to look in her bed.
Q. Okay. Got you. But you didn’t actually look at her ankle?
A. No.
Q. Okay. And you took note of the bedbugs you saw there —
A. Yes.
Q. — and video’ed it?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And then you said you leave to go to church?
A. Yes, that’s correct.
Q. Okay. As you’re leaving, do you have any more contact with anybody that works —
A. Oh, yes, everyone who would listen to me.
Q. Okay. So let’s talk about that. So you’re leaving and you’re talking to everybody —
A. Everyone.
Q. And who is that?
A. I can’t — maybe —
Q. Was that everyone in your group?
A. Well, not the whole bus, obviously, but at least 10 or 15 people on the bus, yes, I made it known that I was unhappy.
Q. Okay.
A. So one person’s name — I think her name is Cathy, I don’t know her last name, I’ll get that for you later on. So everyone from Cathy, Ann Brown, Valeria Grange, I don’t remember — oh —
Q. The reverend?
A. Yes — no, he wasn’t there. He stayed at the Marriott. Lucky him.
Q. Really?
A. Okay. Anyway, we’ll leave that alone.
Q. So he’s not there, but —
A. No.
Q. — you talked to him at some point about it?
A. Yes, when we got to the church, because I was in church very fidgety, and I had to go to the pulpit, so it didn’t look too good being in the pulpit scratching.
Q. Okay.
A. But when we got ready to leave, I just informed Ann, particularly, what happened.
Q. And what are you telling Ann?
A. I’m telling Ann that I have bites over my body. And I think she felt bad because she wouldn’t talk to me.
Q. Okay.
A. And matter of fact, she did not talk to me for probably two months afterwards.
Q. Okay.
A. So it was obvious —
Q. But you had told her prior to staying there you didn’t want to be there?
A. Yeah. Well, prior to staying there, when
we were on the bus, right. But prior to staying there, I think — from what I understand, others had complain — I didn’t know this until after the fact, others had complained they did not want to go to Super 8. So this is my understanding after the fact. So when I did complain to her, come to find out others had said, you know, they didn’t want to stay at Super 8, and had they known she booked Super 8, they wouldn’t have went on the trip.
Q. Okay.
A. After the fact.
Q. Got you. Okay. So you’re complaining to Ann.
A. Yes.
Q. She’s not really talking to you at this point?
A. No. No.
Q. Valeria, what is she saying?
A. She got bit on her chest.
Q. Okay. Go ahead.
A. But after the fact, again. Because she’s not allergic. This is the only reason why this situation is bigger. She got bit, it was a little bite, like a mosquito, she scratched, scratched, scratched, nothing happened; but because she’s not allergic, she got bit on the chest area, and hers cleared up within a couple of days. That’s the big difference between her bite and my bite.
Q. Did she say she saw bedbugs or —
A. Yeah. She said they — on her chest. She thought — she didn’t know what it was. And so I told her that mines was bedbugs. She thought it was also mosquito. But she knew all night that she was itching. So with her, she didn’t know what it was, she just knew that all night she was itching on her chest.
Q. So she knew she received some form of a bite?
A. Yes.
Q. She never actually saw what the source of the bite was?
A. No.
Q. But because of what you were telling her —
A. Exactly.
Q. — she was assuming it was a bedbug?
A. Exactly. Exactly.
Q. Okay.
A. And others said that they were itching during the night, but they thought it was mosquitos.
Q. Okay. So it seems it’s fair to say you’re probably the only person that investigated to see what the source of the itching was?
A. Yes.
Q. So while other people were complaining about itching —
A. Yes.
Q. — you’re the only one that actually saw the bugs —
A. Yes.
Q. — the bedbugs?
A. Exactly.
Q. Okay.
A. The next day?
Q. No.
A. Okay. Not yet.
Q. So once you’re in church and you’re complaining and itching, and you tell the reverend what happened, what happens at that point?
A. My mom, she didn’t want me to report it to the pastor because she felt bad, she didn’t want the pastor to feel bad.
Q. Okay.
A. And in straight words, I said to hell with the pastor.
Q. Okay.
A. I have to say what I said.
Q. Understood.
A. Because I was really sick at that point, and I actually said that. I have a very bad mouth, so excuse me. But I did say that. So she says, What am I going to do? And so I said, I’m going to tell the pastor so he would know.
Q. Okay.
A. So I told my pastor. Before he preached, I let him know what was going on. And so he immediately said, File a complaint.
Q. And so what did you do at that point? You went through the service?
A. Long church service. So once he said that, I was just thinking this point — he said, File a complaint.
Q. Okay.
A. So once he said that, then I knew I had his blessings.
Q. And you got through the service, I assume?
A. Yes.
Q. And what is the plan? Is it to get right back on the bus and to go back up north?
A. Yes. Yes.
Q. Okay. Do you stop anywhere?
A. We stop at — one time — we didn’t do the restaurant thing this time because we had takeout bags from the church, takeout meals, so we had a bagged lunch, so we didn’t have to stop but once maybe for the bathroom.
Q. Okay. You don’t remember the church you fellowshipped with?
A. No, I don’t. No.
Q. Okay. Are so you don’t really stop other than like you said, to go to the bathroom?
A. Right. That’s correct.
Q. And it was about an eight-hour trip, you said, to get to Farmingdale?
A. That’s correct.
Q. So what time do you arrive home?
A. I don’t remember.
Q. Was it evening?
A. It was evening. Uh-huh.
Q. Okay. So it’s dark at that point?
A. 10:00, 11:00 p.m., not really sure.
Q. Okay. During that ride, how are you feeling? Describe physically what’s going on during the ride back.
A. The itching I knew was not normal. I’d never been bitten by a bedbug, so I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel.
Q. Okay.
A. But I knew the itching wasn’t the same as a mosquito bite.
Q. Describe how.
A. The itching was down to my bone, wherein every time I — I couldn’t satisfy with a scratch. So if I kept scratching, I knew I would possibly, I guess, burst the bite. So my mom had told me don’t scratch, if I can, to just pat it.
Q. Okay.
A. So I just began to pat the bites. Wherever they were, I pat as hard as I could, just pat the bites all the way home.
Q. Did you stop and get any sort of topical medication?
A. No.
Q. Any cortisone cream, anything like that?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Did you sleep or anything during the ride?
A. I mean, off and on I probably dozed, but it wasn’t a restful sleep as I did on the way there.
Q. And when you got back to Farmingdale, to the church, was your car left there or how did you get home?
A. Yes, I had a car there. Me and my mom drove together.
Q. Okay. And so did you drop your mom off? What did you do at that point?
A. I dropped my mom off first.
Q. And then you went home?
A. Then I went home.
Q. Didn’t stop to get any sort of cortisone cream, anything like that?
A. No.
Q. And then what did you do when you got home?