About a million people have been to Salem, Massachusetts in the last month to celebrate the Halloween season, , and for the most part the festivities have been trouble-free.
“We take it very seriously. October is a public safety event for us first and foremost,” said Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo.
This weekend, two men were arrested for OUI. Police say one of them nearly hit a group of officers. The other is accused of striking a woman on Essex Street and dragging her under his vehicle while she was on a tour downtown.
Vasiliy Orlov, 43, is now charged with his third drunk driving offense. It happened Saturday, perhaps the busiest day of Haunted Happenings. Halloween is not expected to be as crowded, but there will be a large police presence all the same.
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“We’ll have some additional resources in place, specifically focusing on drunk driving. We have expansive law enforcement presence all throughout the month, but especially these last few weekends,” the mayor said.
The city’s Halloween numbers are up slightly over last year.
“Everyone’s been pretty well-behaved out here with a few people celebrating a little too hard, but that’s only here and there,” said Gerry Spencer of Witch Dr.
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Salem is expecting as many as 80,000 visitors tomorrow, ending what vendors say has been a good year.
“We haven’t seen the barriers put out for a few years so they started doing that this year, so that means there’s more people,” said Nezi Hewson of Wurthy Wear.
The mayor says if you are coming to Salem on Halloween take public transportation.
