Drunken St. Nick: 4 Charged With DWI During Hoboken SantaCon, Cops Say

HOBOKEN, NJ — After throngs of Saturday-night Santas invaded Hoboken for bar crawls over the weekend, four people were arrested for drunk driving, officials said Monday.

In years past, the holiday-themed crawls and house parties — starting as early as 10 a.m. — had led to numerous arrests, sparking a crackdown.

Hoboken public safety spokeswoman Marci Rubin said that between noon on Saturday at 4 a.m. Sunday, Hoboken police made 11 arrests believed to be related to SantaCon, which was a private event, not sanctioned by the city.

Four of the arrests were for Driving While Intoxicated, Rubin said.

Five other arrests were related to an incident involving a fight and robbery, and the other two involved assault charges, Rubin said.

Patch will update the story when more specifics are available.

Rubin said on Monday, "The Hoboken Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau conducted multiple occupancy checks throughout the event, and no participating establishments were found in violation of the legal occupancy levels."

The events kicked off at 10 a.m. this Saturday, promising "thousands of sexy Santas," as one website proclaimed.

Years Past

In past years, the events became infamous when then-Police Chief Ken Ferrante's Tweeted deadpan updates about arrests and party shutdowns.

But for a time, arrest numbers went down (much like the saying on the sweater below).

Ferrante, now the city's public safety director, has stopped giving play-by-pays by Tweet. He said last week, "We’ve been actively preparing for this weekend’s non-sanctioned bar crawl events. Police and Fire will have increased staffing in place, and we will strictly enforce a zero-tolerance policy for violations including disorderly conduct, public intoxication, overcrowding, and any behavior that threatens public safety."

He added, "We remind everyone to never drink and drive and use public transportation or rideshare services. I also want to thank, in advance, our Police, Fire, OEM, and EMS teams."

There were four arrests at the 2023 crawls (see charges and photos here).

Partiers come to the SantaCons in New York and Hoboken — usually held on different weekends — from throughout the Tri-State area.

Past charges for those arrested have included cocaine possession and jumping on the hood of a car.

Hoboken businesses have said in the past that they count on such holiday events to earn money to keep them going through slow summers.

See this link for past years' photos: Scantily-Clad Photos And Tasteless T's Crowd SantaCon