Police shut down ‘out of control’ party for violating social distancing

We need to steer clear of others to fight the virus, but bikini-clad revellers at an “out of hand” pool party in the US ignored all the rules.

Police were forced to intervene after a Las Vegas-style pool party got wildly out of control in the US, leaving people horrified.

Videos posted to social media showed hundreds of revellers partying at a mansion in the up-market town of Alpine in New Jersey.

Most weren’t wearing masks and things took a turn as the night wore on – with partygoers, many of which were wearing only wearing bikinis and swimsuits, spilling out to the street and some passing out drunk, NBC reports.

Flyers posted by party promoters advertised the event as “The Lavish Experience Pool Party”, with one woman telling NBC she and her group spent nearly US$1000 ($1394) attending it.

The unnamed woman and her friends had travelled to the party on a shuttle bus from Brooklyn, New York, and alleged coronavirus social distance rules had been ignored.

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Video posted to social media showed party goers mingling closely at the Vegas-style party. Picture: NBC.

Outdoor gatherings of up to 500 people are allowed in the area, however social distancing must be practised.

Rules include making sure there is no physical contact between attendees that aren’t family or from the same household, no sharing of physical items and marking out on the ground six feet distances to show how much space must be kept.

A man who said he was the host but declined to give his name said the party got “absolutely out of hand”, but wasn’t a paid event.

“This is not how we do things. It got out of control,” he added.

Neighbours report it isn’t the first time a paid party was held at the mansion, with a “Bikinpalooza” event held last month.

“We’ve witnessed a nightclub being operated from the backyard of an Alpine house,” one neighbour said. “I’ve been to Vegas a number of times and this is like a pool party that they throw there.”

One person had to be taken from the party in a stretcher. Picture: NBC.

Another neighbour told the New York Post there has been parties for months.

“A few months ago, new neighbours moved in, renters,” they said. “They started having parties one weekend after another. They were bringing in full party buses, at least 100 people or more.”

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy confirmed local police were now investigating the party and whether it was a paid event.

“Based on the description, there was close congregation and not a lot of face covering, if any,” he told reporters on Monday.

“If in fact people are busted and there was a promoted party, that’s not going to end well.”

News of the huge gathering has angered people online, with many stating it had made them “so mad”.

“These stories make me sooooo mad! Who’s working on the stupidity vaccine??? I’m the first person to say we need to keep living our lives, but have some common sense people,” one wrote on Facebook.

“Should lock them up,” another said.

“We have some extremely stupid folks amongst our population,” one commenter raged.

While one said this sort of behaviour was “ruining it for the rest of us”.

Bikini-clad revellers were seen spilling out to the street. Picture: NBC.

New Jersey has this week tightened restrictions on indoor gatherings, limiting them to just 25 people down from 100.

Mr Murphy blamed the new restriction on too many people having house parties, with the state now recording an upswing in new coronavirus infections.

In Australia authorities too have been forced to crack down on illegal parties, with multiple gatherings held in Sydney’s eastern suburbs shut down over one weekend last month.

Footage of one of the parties showed someone’s home in Bondi turned into a nightclub, packed with more than 100 people and sparking outrage.

In the Sydney suburb of Schofields a police helicopter and dog squad were called in to shut down a house party that led to more than $60,000 in fines for breaching coronavirus rules.

100 partygoers were also fined $1000 each for attending a bush rave in Thredbo late last month.