Michael HegedusThe car before the swarm: bees in the back of a beekeeper’s Mercedes on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after this photo was taken, they escaped.

Animals will get restless if left unattended in a sweltering parked car.

If they can, they will escape.

On Tuesday afternoon in Brooklyn, a few thousand bees fled a Mercedes station wagon, swarming the car and causing panic among neighbors on Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The keeper of the bees, Michael Hegedus, was in his backyard teaching a “hands on” beekeeping course he advertised on Craigslist when a neighbor told him that police officers were at his front door.

Mr. Hegedus, the president of the Brooklyn Beekeepers Club, said he had ordered the starter hives that were in his car for a friend and had planned to drive them into Manhattan. But the bees, most likely agitated by the warm weather and confines of a plastic mesh netting encasing one of the hives, chewed their way to freedom, eventually making their way out of the open windows and covering the car and sidewalk.

“I’m quite the teacher if I’m getting arrested in the middle of class,” Mr. Hegedus said. “It was an unfortunate unfolding of events.”

The New York Police Department was called in and blocked off part of the street to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Also called to the scene was the department’s unofficial beekeeper-in-residence, Anthony Planakis, who regularly responds to swarms and other apiary emergencies. After about an hour and a half, 99 percent of the insects were safely vacuumed into a container, known as a swarm box, Officer Planakis said.

“I think they should make it mandatory for people who decide to keep bees to show proof they have taken a bona-fide beekeeping class,” said Officer Planakis, who said this year’s swarm season has been busier than usual. “Just like when you get a car, you’d better show a license.”

Since beekeeping was legalized in New York City in March 2010, more than 100 beekeepers have registered their hives with the city health department, but no license is required and many beekeepers have yet to comply with the rules.

Mr. Hegedus, known as Mickey, is a third-generation beekeeper; he said his hives were registered. He said he believed the cause of Tuesday’s episode was an equipment failure. The “nucs” (pronounced nukes), or starter hives, which he bought in Brewster, N.Y., were constructed with cheap plastic materials instead of the sturdier, metal casings he was accustomed to using.

Mr. Hegedus said he was handcuffed and taken to the 79th Precinct station house, where he waited in a cell for about an hour. Before he was released, he was given two desk appearance summonses, one for disorderly conduct and one for violating article 161.03a of the New York City Health Code, which states, “a person who owns, possesses or controls a dog, cat or other animal shall not permit the animal to commit a nuisance on a sidewalk of any public place.”

In his 18 years with the police, Officer Planakis said he believed it was the first time a beekeeper was taken to the precinct.

Mr. Hegedus said he planned to cooperate fully with the police.

“I’ll take the rap for the bees,” he said.