Metro

Straphangers go berserk after woman tosses bugs in subway car

A crazed woman trying to sell crickets and worms on a D train suddenly threw them all over the crowded car, sending it into chaos during the evening commute.

The woman walked into the train car at about 6 p.m. Wednesday and made a pitch to passengers to try to get them to buy the chirping insects and wrigglers.

A group of teenagers pushed her, prompting her to freak out and toss the box of pests into the air, said witnesses. Straphangers then started screaming and crying, and all ran down to one end of the car.

“It was pandemonium,” said Chris Calabrese, 29, who was on the train with his girlfriend. “It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen on a train.”

Someone then pulled the emergency brake and the train skidded to a stop on the Manhattan Bridge.

The air conditioning shut off and the screaming passengers were all stuck inside the sweltering car with the woman, who then treated them to antics for half an hour as the crickets jumped on passengers. The worms just wriggled on the floor.

“She was banging on the doors and trying to climb out the windows. Everyone had crickets on their arms. My girlfriend was crying,” said Calabrese. “Then some men were trying to hold her down and she started trying to throw up on them.”

The woman then urinated on the floor and everyone again ran to the other side of the car while still trying to avoid the piles of bugs.

The train started to move again after half an hour and pulled into the DeKalb Avenue station, where dozens of cops were waiting on the platform, said Calabrese.

The MTA confirmed that emergency services removed the woman from the train, but they declined to comment on the crickets and worms.