US Mayor Sends Police To Break Up Parties. They Found His Wife At One Of Them

The mayor of a tiny city in Illinois warned citizens that he had ordered police to split up parties and issue citations to enforce the state’s stay-at-home orders that are meant to slow the coronavirus pandemic. But when the officers performed so, they found his wife at one such gathering.

“These are extremely serious times and I’m begging that you please stay at home,” Alton Mayor Brant Walker said on Saturday. “Parents, please keep your kids at home, doing so is vital to our health.”

On Monday, Walker issued a statement on Facebook saying police had found his better half at a bar in metropolis that was operating in violation of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders. Walker said he was embarrassed and apologised to his constituents.

“My wife can be an adult capable of making her own decisions, and in this situation she exhibited a stunning lack of judgement [sic],” he wrote. She’ll face “the same outcomes on her behalf ill-advised decision as the other individuals” caught at the function, he added.

Walker did not provide the name of his partner nor was she discovered in local news accounts.

Police told the Alton Daily News that officers split up a celebration at Hiram’s Tavern early Sunday. The owner was arrested on an outstanding warrant for domestic battery while some in attendance received citations for reckless do.

Alton is a city of some 26,000 people, located about 20 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri.