Judge Fines 74-Year-Old Cancer Patient For Overgrown Lawn; ‘I’d Give Jail Time If I Could’
A judge in Michigan is making national headlines after what is being called an "overreaction" to an overgrown lawn.
74-year-old Burhan Chowdhury, a resident of Hamtramck - about six miles north of Detroit - admittedly had fallen behind on maintaining his lawn after he was diagnosed with lymphoma back in 2019. From his illness, he became weak. His yard became so overgrown, that local officials had to subpoena Chowdhury.
In the viral clip recorded straight from his Zoom court hearing on January 10th, you can hear that Chowdhury is audibly weak. His breathing is slow and labored, and he has to stop talking every few words to breathe.
Judge Alexis G. Krot of the 31st District Court began to berate him in the court hearing.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. If I could give you jail time on this, I would," Judge Krot says to him as the screen showed a photo of an overgrown alleyway. “You’ve got to get that cleaned up. That is totally inappropriate."
Judge Krot, obviously unable to send a 74-year-old cancer patient to jail over an overgrown lawn, explained that he'd be paying a $100 fine.
Chowdhury's son, Shibbir, was present and spoke on behalf of his father. Shibbir explained that his father's cancer treatments had left his father very weak and unable to mow the lawn recently.
For years, Shibbir has helped his ill father, but he's been out of the country in Bangladesh for three months prior to the citation.
Judge Krot didn't have time for excuses. “Do you see that photo? That is shameful. Shameful. The neighbors should not have to look at that," she said.
Since the video's sharing on Tuesday, a Change.org petition was created to remove Judge Krot from her seat for her comments. As of Friday morning, over 37,000 signatures have been added.
Read more at NY Post
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