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9.10.2009

the filthiest apartment in queens?

This story out of New York just grosses me out... In Queens, police busted into an apartment to investigate an awful stench, expecting to find a dead, rotting body. Instead, they found tenant Ming Li Sung, very much alive -- just living within a heap of rotting garbage piled floor to ceiling: Cops find man isn't dead, just a slob.

I gagged a little just imagining the sight (and smell). Cops reportedly first noticed the smell when they were called to the apartment building that morning for a domestic dispute. I guess it was so bad, they just had to assume they'd find a body. Nope. Just an irate 69-year-old Chinese man living in his own personal landfill.

The smell has apparently been a problem for years, forcing tenants to move out. According to one neighbor, when an FDNY haz-mat team arrived to start excavating the garbage, an army of cockroaches poured out into the second-floor hallway. Urp. Excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth. The police reportedly did too.

Sung was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center for psychiatric evaluation. He doesn't face any charges. I guess when you find a person living like those kinds of conditions, it's best to assume the guy is need of some help.