Hoboken’s SantaCon, a holiday-themed bar crawl known to stir up controversy, was pretty tame this year with only five people being arrested, police said.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
This year, five people were detained during relatively routine arrests, none of which resulted in any officers being injured, Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante tweeted yesterday.
The @CityofHoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to 23 medical calls yesterday. There were no serious injuries & no officers injured.
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) December 18, 2016
In a media release sent out this afternoon, Police Det. Sgt. Edgardo Cruz noted that there were just 30 summonses written this year, ranging from public urination to carrying open containers of alcohol in public.
These numbers show a significant drop off from last year’s event, where there were nine arrests and 70 summonses.
2015 also saw Santas and elves alike irate over the fact that pre-purchased event bracelets stopped being honored at bars in the early afternoon due to the massive crowds, another scenario that was avoided on Saturday.
In arguably the most unexpected arrest from Saturday afternoon, Jonathan Georgens, 26, of Hoboken, was hit with a slew of weapons and drug charges after threatening others with a screwdriver, officials said.
The incident occurred around 1:50 p.m. at 300 Bloomfield St. and the man was found to be carrying a screwdriver and a Ziploc bag of Synthetic marijuana when he was placed under arrest, authorities said.
Georgens was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, possession of a controlled dangerous substance (synthetic Cannabinoid), possession of controlled CDS paraphernalia and outstanding warrants, police said.
Ferrante received some mainstream media coverage for live tweeting, something he regularly does during bar crawls in the Mile Square City, about some of the more amusing scenes from SantaCon.
First SantaCon event of the day was Santas throwing snowballs at passersby at 403 Washington St including a City director. Party shut down.
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) December 17, 2016
Open container summons being issued at 2nd and Hudson Street. Expensive holiday drink! @CityofHoboken
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) December 17, 2016
Disorderly Conduct summons 70 Hudson. Disorderly person starts urinating in public at 10th & Willow. 2 females passed out in Dunkin Donuts.
— Chief Ken Ferrante (@KenFerrante) December 17, 2016
