Posted on 03/28/2011 7:50:31 PM PDT by TheDingoAteMyBaby
Police who busted a Fort Lee, N.J., high school house party over the weekend left a van full of teens locked up and parked outside in the freezing cold for 14 hours without food, water or access to a bathroom.
Officials only realized what had happened after a passerby heard screams and banging from the police van where five teens were trapped, NBC New York has learned.
"We were cold, dehydrated, hungry," said Tony, 17. "I mean it was the worst thing that ever possibly happened to me."
Police raided the house party at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday because of noise complaints from neighbors, according to Fort Lee borough attorney Lee Cohen.
Several kids were rounded up and driven away in the van. Then, as temperatures dropped into the 20s and 30s, they were forgotten.
Three of the teens spoke to NBC New York on Monday, on condition that their last names would not be used.
They said they tried breaking out of the van, banging and kicking its doors to no avail. They pressed up together to stay warm against the cold, as their parents wondered where they were.
"We had to huddle up together and just share body heat pretty much," said another boy, Liam.
And without anywhere to relieve themselves, they had to urinate inside the van.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said an internal investigation has been launched within the Fort Lee police department.
Cohen, the Fort Lee borough attorney, declined to comment on the teens left outside, other than to say the case is under "active investigation."
Oops.
When I go to a house party, I always bring a dog. That way, if the police show up, they can just shoot the dog to get their aggression out, and then they are less likely to lock me in a van for 14 hrs.
bad cop no donut
$$$$$ !
Cha-ching!
>>>as their parents wondered where they were<<<
If this was my son, I plan on carrying on the family tradition of having him far more fearful of my response to him being out partying at 1:30 a.m. than the more gentle ministrations of the police and judicial system. He might wish for a few hours in a cold locked van after I get through with him.
LOL I’m guessing they wouldn’t have liked the inside of the jail any better.
I was about to say that if this was dogs we were talking about rather than obnoxious teenagers I would be pretty upset.
WTF?
A citizen would be under arrest if they did this.
Depriving someone of their liberties is justified under the color of law.
Sounds like the badges may have decided to sample the confiscated ...um... party favors and forgot the kids in their stoned stupor.
I hear the sound of dozens of lawyers drooling.......
Multiple counts of felony child endangerment, if a mere citizen did it. But since it was a cop ... and since they’re held to so much “higher standards” that we are ...
If it were Taliban instead of teens, we’d be accused
of heinous crimes.
However, in some areas if police find drunk teens, they call cabs for them (”to protect and to serve”) and put a sticker on the house, so if they are called there again anytime in the next six months, the owner is in trouble.
I sense the plot of the next Ben Stiller movie developing...
“We had to huddle up together and just share body heat pretty much”
Isn’t this what the guy were trying to accomplish with the girls at the party anyway? At least here they had an excuse and didn’t have to worry about getting slapped or kneed in the groin.
Tax rates are going up in that city. The legal payoff to the families is going to be in the millions.
Sounds like you had a repressed childhood.
While this was not a good situation, these teens should try and overseas flight only to have to wait on the tarmac for another 2 hours.
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