A stabbing was reported in Ocean City, New Jersey, and police are looking into it. On Memorial Day weekend, another nearby beach town announced a state of emergency.
When police got to the beach on Saturday night, they found that a 15-year-old boy had been stabbed by a man they didn’t know. Being taken to a nearby hospital, the person is supposed to get better from his injuries.
“As in recent years and in other shore towns, Ocean City experienced a number of issues related to large crowds of teens on the Boardwalk, fights, shoplifting, and disorderly conduct during the start of Memorial Day weekend,” Mayor Jay Gillian said in a statement. “I understand the impact that this behavior has on all of our residents, guests, and business owners, and I want to assure everybody that Ocean City will not tolerate it.”
“Our officers made multiple arrests last night and were able to quickly restore order to the Boardwalk once the teens involved in these incidents were removed,” he told us.
“We have a highly qualified team of officers on the boardwalk and throughout town, and they will enforce all laws to the fullest,” Gillian said.
He warned, “Ocean City will always be open to all guests, but I want to send a clear message to parents and teens: ‘If you don’t want to behave, don’t come.'”
Cape May County is further south. Just after midnight on Monday, the Wildwood Police Department announced a state of emergency because of “numerous incidents of civil unrest.” A few hours later, they took back what they said, but they didn’t say in a press statement if anyone had been arrested.
Some cities and towns have had to close beaches and swimming pools or shorten their hours because they don’t have enough workers. This is happening at the same time that the weather is getting hotter and people want to cool off by doing water activities outside.
Only 230 of the 600 lifeguards that are needed to fully staff and protect the beaches in New York City have been hired, but they will be open for Memorial Day weekend.
“There are some places that will have shorter hours or might not even be able to have all of their guests because we have…” Mayor Eric Adams of New York City said this week, “We’re trying to solve a national lifeguard problem here in the city.”
