I’m not quite sure why who thought this story about busting underage drinkers would be positive for advertising the use of a police department’s resources, especially when coming across parts like this:
Because police didn’t have a specific address, officers had to search for the party. About 2 a.m., they found it in the 1100 block of Lockridge Avenue South.
“We had officers on patrol … going to specific neighborhoods,” McCarthy said.
Is there honestly nothing better to do than to track down and cite 33 people for Minor In Possession of alcohol (~$200 fine) on a Saturday night at closing time off in Cottage Grove? Clearly not, as evident by the party-goers thumbing their nose at the cops, refusing to let them in, and forcing them to get a search warrant before they would let them indoors.
As a life-time resident of the city of Minneapolis, refusing to let the police inside my house, while entirely within my legal rights, sounds completely foreign. The MPD are heavyweights, and they do not play around– it’s just got to be much easier to have the underage drinkers hide or scatter off into the night than to refuse entry to the police.
If your police force can’t instill the fear of God into some drunken teenagers, something is gravely wrong in your town. When you are searching out a house party full of kids instead of potential drunk drivers of legal drinking age, your priorities are misplaced.
Tags: alcohol, MN Media, police, underage drinking
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Hey, I just wanted to give you the “other” perspective on the party in Cottage Grove since I was just a party goer, and I am friends with a lot of the people that attended.
First and foremost, the bash was originally intended to be a college party with people above 21 being allowed to drink. This was changed during the week prior because it was decided that no alcohol was going to be allowed.
Which is why it was advertised on Facebook, and the Alleygators Group (that no longer is affiliated with the nightclub, but was unable to change its name because it is not allowed by Facebook) was one of several groups that advertised and promoted this party. If you had looked at the actual “event site” there were over 3000 people invited, and the Alleygators group only had about 800 last week. The groups and the people promoting the party had the understanding that there was going to be no alcohol at all. If the plan was going to be to have even some alcohol no group would have ever promoted it.
Unfortunately, many of the college age people (mostly above 21) decided to bring their own alcohol. This was partially due to the fact that some of the 21 year olds complained saying that they were legal and should be allowed to drink. However, it was explicitly told to them that they were doing so at their own risk and they were told not to give any to minors.
The amazing part is that the party was actually surprisingly well regulated between 9 p.m. – 1 a.m. In general the 40 or so above 21 year olds were not supplying any alcohol to the minors, and in the few cases that minors did have alcohol and beer, they had brought their own.
Nevertheless the people running the party were doing a pretty good job identifying who was a minor that was drinking. When they found these people they quickly found a sober driver and had them leave immediately.
By the time the police arrived at 2 a.m. there were only about 40-50 people (out of the 120 or so people that attended) still at the party. This is because the majority of the “above 21 year olds” had left and the majority of the remaining people were planning to stay the night. By this point the majority of alcohol had been put away and the remaining people were either leaving, about to go to sleep, or were already sleeping.
The weird thing about the whole situation is that not a single 21 year old blew anything. This is relevant because they had obviously not been drinking and it doesn’t make sense that they would have supplied any alcohol to minors. They were still at this party when the cops broke down the doors at 5:30 a.m. because they were trying to support the owner. Actually I can flat out guarantee that not a single one of them provided alcohol to any minors. Those 21 year olds were long gone.
The majority of photos (that the police reference) also show empty alcohol bottles (which were drank by the 21 plus people) or 21 year olds drinking (and were taken before they got there).
Most of the people who did get ticketed for underage drinking blew under a 0.02, meaning at best they had one drink, and did so without the knowledge of the people hosting the party. Moreover, the 12 remaining teens that were underage had all driven and the owner was trying to be responsible by confiscating their alcohol and telling them to sleep it off. She didn’t want anyone driving on the roads under the influence. And I can also guarantee that both her and all the people that were helping her, were pissed (at both the 21 year olds for giving them alcohol and the minors for accepting even a little bit of it). And this was way before the police showed up.
Bottom line is:
Was there a party? Yes.
Did it have people of all ages? Yes.
Did the owner supply alcohol to minors? No.
Did a lot of 21 year olds drink? Yes.
Did the majority of underage people drink? No.
When the people throwing the party found out about the alcohol did they act responsibly? Yes.I know this may be hard to believe, saying that “kids” were trying to act responsibly. However, it is the truth and the facts.
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Thanks for replying! As a “kid” myself, I can believe it. It is bizarre that the police thought it would worthwhile to drive around town, looking to bust up the party when they didn’t even have the address.
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