Following stabbing, Jersey Shore official says unruly teens won’t be allowed to ‘steal summer’

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — It was supposed to be just another night on the Ocean City, N.J., boardwalk with her family: husband, their 6-year-old son, and a set of grandparents reliving a ritual that has gone on in the family for generations.

But this year, said Kari, of Dutchess County, New York, their adored Shore town was not the same resort. (She and her husband did not want their last name used, given the nature of the topic.)

The family found themselves huddled on a bench at the bottom of the 10th Street ramp as “droves of kids” ran by them leaving the boardwalk, where there had been a stabbing.

“It wasn’t the same feeling we’ve had coming here,” Kari said, standing outside Steel’s Fudge store in the relative quiet of the Tuesday after a hectic Memorial Day weekend, as her son and husband went inside for a treat. “It’s very unsettling, very disappointing. We hope they come up with some solution.”

Up and down the Jersey Shore, it was a weekend that saw huge crowds of teenagers on boardwalks from Wildwood to Seaside Heights, multiple fights, a stabbing near 10th Street on the Ocean City boardwalk and the total shutdown of the Wildwood boardwalk from midnight Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday after officials cited “civil unrest.”

After weekends filled with rain, and a holiday that coincided with prom and senior weeks, Shore towns were inundated with visitors to begin the 2024 season.

Aside from the chaos on boardwalks, there were other, less dramatic, signs of towns being at or near the breaking point: hours-long waits for lattes, thousands of bagel orders, a line outside TacoCat in Margate that stretched around the block.

The overall level of commotion left shop owners, officials, and visitors uneasy. There were similar incidents in Seaside Heights, and even in resort towns in Massachusetts.

» READ MORE: Laws for teens at the Jersey Shore: Curfews, backpack bans, and beach closures

Shore towns have enacted curfews and backpack bans and employed various strategies in recent years to deal with unruly teens. But local officials contend that state laws changed in 2020 to address unnecessary punishing of juveniles have left local police departments without the tools to keep control.

Gov. Phil Murphy and juvenile justice reform advocates contend that the laws are necessary to “alleviate disparate racial and socio-economic outcomes in the criminal legal system and to address substance use matters with an approach focused on public health.” This year, he declined to sign legislation that included a $50 fine for underage drinking, saying it ran counter to his efforts at reform. He contends that police have the tools they need, and that the law has been tweaked to help support their efforts.

On Tuesday evening, Murphy spoke on News 12′s “Ask the Governor” segment and said, “We take all of those incidents very, very seriously as I know the communities do.” He said that his administration would conduct a “post-mortem” to see what “we as a state can do to help out.”

Murphy downplayed reports of widespread chaos. “The weekend was overwhelmingly a successful weekend, including even in those towns,” he said. “The Shore did not have a chaotic weekend. There were three serious incidents.”

“We will not tolerate this,” said Len Desiderio, the mayor of Sea Isle and the director of the Cape May County Commissioners, adding that troublemakers would not be allowed to “steal summer from our families, our businesses, and our visiting friends,

He said he would be meeting with the county prosecutor and sheriff “to talk about how county resources can be utilized to supplement local law enforcement effort.”

He said current New Jersey laws regarding teenagers and alcohol, though somewhat tightened since last summer, still hamstring police officers in fully keeping control.

Brian Reed, a Realtor in Wildwood, said that although he wondered whether using the term “civil unrest,” was necessary, he believed that police were being prevented from doing their jobs by the current laws. Murphy and others say the towns still have the tools they need.

“I think that it comes down to government allowing police to do their job,” Reed said. “It’s really difficult.”

Reed said he was not worried about the Memorial Day weekend chaos prompting people to not want to come down to the Shore or buy real estate.

“The one thing lacking in all the Shore towns is inventory to sell,” he said, noting that a version of the weekend’s events had been going on for years. “If you were to tell me that people are going to sell, I’ll tell you I’ll flip it. I should be shouting from the roof tops that you might want to sell.”

In Ocean City, there was heightened concern.

Hordes of teens fighting, stampeding off the boardwalk at 9:12 p.m., a stabbing — this is not at all what people associate with America’s Greatest Family Resort, as the dry town refers to itself.

» READ MORE: Teen stabbed, multiple arrests made in Ocean City boardwalk chaos on Memorial Day weekend

The stabbing occurred outside the Allcampus cap shop near 10th Street. People flooded into the store for safety, including the 15-year-old victim, a witness said. The teen was taken to a hospital in Atlantic City with non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

Other business owners reported getting into scuffles with teens rushing for their cash registers in the mayhem.

“It hurts our business, and it hurts the city,” said one boardwalk store owner, who did not want to be identified. “It’s not a good look. I’m sad as a business owner and a civilian. These kids are not being arrested. They’re not having any consequences.

“If you’re a family, why would you be up here anymore at night?” he said.

» READ MORE: Police chief: Ocean City's curfews, beach closings sent teens to other parts of town.

Others in Ocean City on Tuesday said they did not notice the moments of chaos, despite being on the boardwalk in the general vicinity.

“I did see it on TikTok,” said one mother of 14- and 17-year-old daughters. “I still love Ocean City. ... I still feel like it’s a safe area.”

Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said officers made “multiple arrests” Saturday night and were able to “quickly restore order to the boardwalk once the teens involved in these incidents were removed.” He said the city “will not tolerate” continued incidents.

In Wildwood, city officials said they were responding to “an irrepressible number of calls” on Saturday evening, most related to the “extremely large number of young adults and juveniles that were in the city for the Memorial Day weekend.”

Shortly after midnight, unable to keep up with service calls in the city, Police Chief Joseph Murphy declared a “local disaster emergency” and closed the boardwalk. This allowed the city to “effectively address numerous incidents of civil unrest and ensure the safety and welfare of our residents and visitors.“

The state of emergency was lifted at 6 a.m.

On Tuesday, city officials still had not detailed the number and type of arrests, or described any specific injuries or incidents that prompted the extraordinary actions.

Ocean City Councilman Jody Levchuk, owner of Jilly’s Arcade on the boardwalk, said Ocean City remains “wildly safe.”

Wes Kazmarck, the owner of the Surf Mall and head of the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants, said the weekend was the first decent weather at night all spring. There was pent-up enthusiasm for a night on the boardwalk, he said, and he’s hopeful the Shore season will settle down.

“Memorial Day weekend lined up this year with a really wet cold spring,” Kazmarck said. “You didn’t have to be in this business for a long time to not expect it to be seriously crowded. We always brace ourselves.”

“I think Ocean City is very, very aware that the resort business drives the economy,” he said. “The boardwalk is a big part of that. We’ll make sure it continues to be a safe environment. They’ll make sure of that.”