Picture this: You park your car, run into the store for groceries, and come back to find thousands of bees have moved into your backseat. That’s exactly what happened to one shopper in Las Cruces, New Mexico—and his day only got stranger from there.
“I didn’t know what to do”
The man had parked his Buick at an Albertson’s grocery store, leaving a window cracked. Bad idea. While he shopped, a swarm of honeybees decided his car was their new home.
He loaded his groceries, climbed into the driver’s seat, and started to pull out of the lot. That’s when he saw the buzzing mass. Panicked, he jumped out and called 911. “I didn’t know what to do,” he later admitted.
Firefighter by day, beekeeper by night
The Las Cruces Fire Department responded, but even they weren’t prepared for this. They admitted, “We don’t usually deal with bee swarms.”
Thankfully, firefighter Jesse Johnson was on call—and it turns out, he’s also a beekeeper. Johnson grabbed his hive kit, gloves, and lemongrass oil. He suited up and got to work removing the bees from the car.
“I’ll do anything to keep people from killing the bees,” Johnson later told reporters.
Two hours of buzzing chaos
For nearly two hours, Johnson carefully transferred the swarm into hive boxes. It wasn’t easy—especially with curious shoppers hanging around.
The fire department estimated there were “about 15,000 bees” in total. Johnson relocated the entire colony to his property outside city limits, where they could start a new hive.
Not everyone got off sting-free. A security guard took one for the team, and “it’s possible a few patrons had close encounters,” the department admitted.
Bees saved, car cleaned, day back on track
The driver? Once the bees were out, he drove home, hopefully with his windows rolled up this time.
As for Johnson, he returned to his quiet life keeping bees and saving lives—though he did joke that it was “a Bee-Z day” for the fire department.
Facebook commenters couldn’t get enough of the story. One wrote, “Bee-utiful job, LCFD!” Another asked the question we’re all thinking: “How do you not notice 15,000 bees in your backseat?”
The moral of the story? Always check your backseat. And maybe keep a beekeeper on speed dial.
