Coronavirus Crackdown: Police Break Up 48-Person Party In New Jersey

Police in New Jersey broke up a sizeable party early Saturday for defying the state’s attempts to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Responding to an anonymous noise complaint, officers arrived to break up the gathering in Ewing at approximately 1 a.m. Authorities confirmed that 47 partygoers and a D.J. were stuffed into a 550 square-foot dwelling for the event.

“The organizer was charged, as they should have been and deserved to be,” Gov. Phil Murphy posted on Twitter. “This is not a game. Stay home. Be smart.”

Murphy recently implemented a stay-at-home order, closing down all non-essential businesses and banning any sort of large gathering. The organizer of the party, Wade E. Jackson, 47, seemed to have been trying to directly defy this order, calling the event a “Corona Party.”

“Mercer County and the entire state of New Jersey will not tolerate such irresponsible, criminal behavior and violators will be prosecuted,” Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said about the incident.

State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has stated that those who violate the order could be charged with disorderly conduct or crimes in the second, third or fourth degree.

The party comes after a New Jersey man was charged last week with making a terroristic threat after he allegedly coughed intentionally near a supermarket employee and said he had the coronavirus.