BUSTED! Long Branch, Pop Up Party Organizers Found

Organizers behind the pop party that brought 5 thousand extra people to Pier Village in Long Branch, New Jersey last Saturday, have been busted. They may not be the only ones held responsible either.

The pop-up "party" was more like the beginnings of a riot with some people dancing on a police car and smashing its windows. Not only that, some teens were throwing bottles and rocks at police.

Lots of them were drinking open containers of alcohol all over the pier which fueled numerous fights, one of which left a victim with bloody gashes in his face. What a party right?

This sort of "party" did not exist when I was a teen because we did not have the tools to pull anything like that off (and hopefully we were not as stupid). Today with social media, organizing anything with the masses is easily done with the touch of a button. Now, police know who those pop-up party planners are and they found out in the nick of time because there was another one brewing.

In addition to holding those individuals responsible, Long Branch Mayor John Pallone mentioned taking legal action against TikTok and Instagram for hosting the invitations online.

Long Branch Mayor John Pallone said,

Our Long Branch Police Department has tracked down the organizers of these 'pop up' events and plans to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, we have made contact with NJ Transit and will continue to do so to find a solution that does not call for letting thousands of people off a train at once, swelling our city to capacity limits.

Thankfully, police acted fast with the arrest of 15 people that night, as well as identifying the masterminds behind the pop-ups so that they can be held accountable as well all before another pop-up was supposed to take place on June 18/19th.

That had me wondering, what is the responsibility of social media with a thing like this? Is it up to them to be the online police? What are your thoughts?

Photo credit: Pop Up Party Invite FB