An effort to bring an outdoor “rage room” attraction onto a Lower East Side block nearly ended in disaster on Saturday evening when the simulated violence turned so realistic that someone called 911, believing there was an actual riot taking place.
The Ragery, an apparent pop-up bonkers bar where people are charged $5 each to take a bat and beat the hell out of a car billed as the “ultimate stress relief,” was so authentic-looking in operation on Essex Street that cops were called using sirens.
“They said that somebody called, that they were worried that somebody smashing the car,” owner Roman Lupu told The Post.
Shortly after the event began, around 2:45 p.m., an anonymous person called in to report three men attacking a vehicle using metal weapons – croquet mallets and ax handles. A caller points out that the truck was put on a tarp, loaded onto a trailer, and strapped down.
The officers came upon the scene where each participant had signed a waiver before they began 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.”
Lupu acknowledged that the Summer Smash event was an unconventional way of publicizing the Ragery, but said it had been advertised on their website for weeks and rescheduled once because of rain. But it appeared that neither the NYPD nor Levere’s neighbor with good intentions knew about the party.
Lupu, from Westchester County, opened the “break room for unparalleled rage release” in January with co-founder Bogdan Zhukovsky as a place New Yorkers could unleash their well-known fury.
Lupu said about 50 people took part in the car-smashing event on Saturday. The befuddled police did not seem to approve of what was taking place.
The cops “responded and finalized the job,” the NYPD said.