A Detroit woman explained why she was late for her Zoom court hearing, where a judge chastised her after she was caught making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a house robe.
A now-viral clip of the virtual hearing shows Asja Outerbridge dialing in late for the video conference call to appear before Judge Sean Perkins.
In the clip, the judge asks why she’s late, and Outerbridge states that she was sent a letter stating she was supposed to show up at court at 1 p.m. She held up a piece of paper that showed her hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m.
As she and the judge argue about the correct time, talking over one another, Outerbridge sets the phone down and shows herself scooping peanut butter from a jar while dressed in a robe.
“Put whatever you are trying to prepare down,” Perkins says over the call. “Put your properly dress on. I don’t do robes.”
“I am properly dressed. I have on a T-shirt,” Outerbridge responds.
“Is that a robe?” the judge asks.
Outerbridge explains that she was trying to feed her sick daughter, whom she had to keep home from school. As Perkins begins to talk about court etiquette, Outerbridge attests she is properly clothed and takes off the robe to reveal that she’s wearing an oversized T-shirt with leopard-print pants.
Visibly frustrated with the exchange, Perkins dismissed Outerbridge, saying, “Bye, Ms. Outerbridge!” and booted her off the call.
According to WJBK, Outerbridge had to report to court for a misdemeanor after she was accused of having an open container of alcohol in her car.
She said there was a reasonable explanation for why she was late to her hearing.
“I got multiple court dates, so I called to get the Zoom number, and they had told me like, ‘Oh, you’re supposed to be there right now.’ What I had said 1 p.m.,” Outerbridge told CBS News Detroit. “I hung up with them, and hopped on at 9:22 a.m. exactly, and waited there from 9:22 to 11:30. That’s when the robe thing happened, and then he put me back in holding. So with being on hold for 2 hours, I’m not going to lie, I kind of forgot he was on the phone.”
Outerbridge said that once she heard the court session start, she ran to her phone, but she had already started making a sandwich.
“I definitely was wrong. I could have came dressed better and more prepared, and I don’t want to judge to think that I’m laughing at the situation, at him because I’m not. I take that very seriously, I do genuinely, with a serious face, apologize to the judge,” she said.
