Seven people, six from Jersey City and one from Union City, have been charged with drinking and playing dice at Triangle Park in Jersey City in violation of state emergency orders, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Marc Taylor, 19; Dalanie Felton, 19 ; Dasean Lassiter, 19; Bashard Davis, 18; Quadra Domnie, 19; and Prima Lockemy, 19, all of Jersey City; as well as Jeremy Perez, 22, of Union City, were charged by Jersey City police yesterday with violating the emergency orders, public consumption of alcohol, and possession of a gambling device, all disorderly persons offenses, Grewal said in a statement.
Police found the defendants in Triangle Park at Danforth Avenue and Old Bergen Road, where they were allegedly drinking outside, playing dice, and failing to practice social distancing.
“One month after Governor Murphy issued his emergency orders, we are flattening the curve and saving lives, because the vast majority of our residents are conscientiously obeying the social distancing rules and doing their share to fight COVID-19,” said Grewal.
” … Our message to violators is that we will hold you accountable, whether it is through a summons for those who violate the social distancing orders, or an arrest on indictable charges for those who deliberately harm or threaten others during this emergency.â€
Violations of the emergency orders constitute a disorderly persons offense carrying a potential sentence of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. However, violators can potentially face criminal charges including second, third, and fourth degree indictable offenses.
“On compliance: the knuckleheads who’ve been called out, they deserve to get called out for that kind of behavior … but for the most part, folks are overwhelmingly doing the right thing,” Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said at a Trenton press briefing this afternoon.
Those weren’t the only recent incidents in Jersey City related to emergency order violations: on Friday, an Airbnb party with 15 people led to four being charged, while a city resident was charged with threatening to infect police with COVID-19 on Thursday.
