By Yepoka Yeebo and Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Teens and adults without kids were shut out of the Highbridge Pool late Tuesday afternoon after the Parks department determined that the crowds had grown too large to handle, officials said.
But the older kids didn't let that spoil their fun. After being cleared out of the pool, teens and adults flooded the streets bordering the facility, where they popped open fire hydrants for relief from the record setting 102-degree temperature.
Ramon Bart, 29, of Washington Heights, was determined to stay cool despite being denied access to the pool.
“We're going down the block,” he said, pointing behind him, “to the pump.”
Young children accompanied by a parent were still allowed inside the facility to swim in the wading pool, one of its two Olympic-sized pools, according to the Parks department.
Visitors said that the pack of pool-goers had grown thick and unruly while swimming in the adult pool, with hordes of people crowded even in the deep end of the pool.
Luse Calaf, a Washington Heights resident, was able to enter the facility after waiting two hours with her 8-year-old daughter Sealthiel, but left soon after, saying that the scene inside was chaotic.
“It's a nice pool, they know how to keep it, but it's not organized,” Calaf said.
“There were people butting in, jumping through bars,” she added, referring to barriers the pool erected in an attempt to control the line into the facility. “They don't know how to keep order.”
A Parks Department spokesman said in an e-mailed statement that it is not unusual for the city's 54 public pools to surpass capacity.
"NYPD and Parks Patrol Officers work together to keep the lines in order and give everyone the latest information when pools reach capacity," the statement read. "In those cases where youthful exuberance crosses the line, we work with NYPD to calm the situation and maintain order."
Approximately 10 police officers joined Parks officers to control the crowd at the pool. One officer on the scene said that the reason they had to bar more people from entering the pool was because there were not enough lifeguards on duty.
Robert Cruz, who lives in an apartment building just outside the pool, blamed the crowds on a lack of activities for older kids during the summer.
"School's off, so the crowd will be here until maybe midnight,” Cruz said. “These kids don't have pools, they don't have club memberships. Someone should tell the mayor they need boys' clubs.”
