An innocent promotion to help people relief some stress turned accidentally into a chaotic police presence in New York City over the weekend.
According to The New York Post, The Ragery — a $5-a-pop “rage room” set up a car where people could smash it with a bat as the “ultimate stress relief.”
But things got a little too realistic when the pretend aggression looked so believable someone called police to say a riot was going on.
“They said that somebody called, that they were worried that somebody smashing the car,” owner Roman Lupu told The Post.
The NYPD said a good Samaritan called 911 to report three men hitting a vehicle around 2:45 p.m. — just an hour after the event began.
What wasn’t mentioned was that folks on the scene were wearing matching hard hats, safety glasses, earmuffs and aprons and that the already beat-up truck was neatly positioned on top of a tarp and strapped into a trailer for easy clean-up.
Officers descended onto the chaotic scene to find each of the vandals had signed a waiver before picking up a bat.
“They were very puzzled. The looks on their faces were super puzzled,” Lupu said.
“They took a while, and they kind of came closer, and I went to talk to them, and said, ‘Hey guys, don’t worry. This is all a plan, it’s just a promotional, kind of fun event for our customers for a new rage room here in the city.”
The Summer Smash event, which Lupu said was a creative way to bring attention to The Ragery, had been advertised on the business’s website for weeks — and was even pushed back a week for rain — but the NYPD and the well-meaning neighbor had apparently not caught wind of the violent party.
About 50 people seized the opportunity to destroy a car Saturday, Lupu said.
The cops “responded and finalized the job,” the NYPD said.