plz tell me this is real and not just a meme :D

from https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article137373598.html

Hot story: Miami lawyer’s pants erupt in flames during arson trial in court

UPDATED MARCH 09, 2017

A Miami defense lawyer’s pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case.

Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client’s car spontaneously combusted and was not intentionally set on fire, had been fiddling in his pocket as he was about to address jurors when smoke began billowing out his right pocket, witnesses told the Miami Herald.

He rushed out of the Miami courtroom, leaving spectators stunned. After jurors were ushered out, Gutierrez returned unharmed, with a singed pocket, and insisted it wasn’t a staged defense demonstration gone wrong, observers said.

Instead, Gutierrez blamed a faulty battery in an e-cigarette, witnesses told the Miami Herald.

“It was surreal,” one observer told the Miami Herald.

:D wew!

Update:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-lawyer-whose-pants-caught-fire-charged-with-cocaine-20210217-wmw3gbyjfrdyhequzlpvulnmvm-story.html

We have many colorful and crazy characters who call Florida home. It's like living in a Carl Hiaasen comedy fiction novel.

I have been there, that certainly is true.