Cops bust teens' root-beer kegger

MSNBC ^ | March. 28, 2008 | AP

[Slapshot68]

“Nearly 90 breath tests were done, and officers even searched locked rooms for hiding teens.”

Um...once it had been determined that there was no actual beer in the keg, why was this necessary?

[driftdiver]

“Nearly 90 breath tests were done, and officers even searched locked rooms for hiding teens.”

Wonder where they found probable cause for this little room to room search.

[gathersnomoss]

Book ‘em Danno.

[ladtx]

I hate those root beer hangovers. Normally if you just take a shot or two in the morning it’ll get you thru the next day. ;o}

[Greg F]

Snicker.

[Alex Murphy]

Zebro purchased a quarter-barrel of 1919 Classic American Draft Root Beer, and by 10 p.m. Saturday, the scene outside his rural Wausau home had all the makings of a teen drinking party — cars, noise and kids.

Not just sold to a minor - the root beer was transported across state lines, too...
Vecenie's Distributing Company is pleased to introduce 1919 Classic American Draft Root Beer to the Western Pennsylvania market.

[Londo Molari]

smart move — now the kid can have a real beer party because wouldn’t dare bust that one, too.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“It was a tremendous waste of time and manpower, but we still had a job to do, and our officers did it,” Joling said.”

If bothering kids for no reason is their job, I guess.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Good work by the officers.

It all starts so innocently, but parties such as this one can lead to the stronger stuff...

...like rootbeer floats and birchbeer.

[SlapHappyPappy]

I can guarantee you 2 things:

1) My friends and I would have pulled this kind of stunt
2) At least one moron would have brought booze to our alcohol free “kegger”

[TheThirdRuffian]

They heard people laughing through the door, dontcha know.

I dealt with these kinds of cops in the Army -— constantly trying to nail soldiers for whatever -— they’re pathetic.

[Alex Murphy]

...like rootbeer floats and birchbeer.

God forbid they should get hooked on the really hard stuff, like sarsparilla...

[Taffini]

I bet they were eating chips and dip...all are high fat violations

[Jagman]

“It was a tremendous waste of time and manpower, but we still had a job to do, and our officers did it,” Joling said.

“Nonetheless, we were able to taser two dogs and a parked tricycle, so it wasn't a total loss.”

[Steamburg]

Thats what you get for hiring cheap robots. It looks like the city has been saving money by hiring and promoting people who take orders not make decisions... Policing is far too complex and important to leave it in the hands of the incompetent.

When police professionals are found, they quickly get out of local government not only because of the opportunity offered in private industry, but to avoid the spineless incompetents that make up their local government.

[contemplator]

Nearly 90 breath tests were done, and officers even searched locked rooms for hiding teens.

Kudos to the kid who came up with the idea. I'm guessing he didnt plan on getting so much publicity for his stunt, especially such an ironic twist on the point he was trying to make.

Were 90 tests necessary? I'm sure the cops were told of the purpose of the party and they chose to conduct the tests anyways, but at what point would it have been appropriate for them to actually believe the kids? Maybe after the first 20 or 30 you'd think that the cops would have gotten the idea, but no they had to do 90 tests in addition to conducting a full search of all the locked rooms for kids.

These cops were definitely on a witch hunt. Is it normal procedure upon raiding a house party for cops to search locked rooms? Wouldnt they need a warrant for that? Granted, it's likely that some of the kids has some rather smart-alecky comments which pushed the cops buttons and made them a bit over zealous, but aren't they supposed to be the adults in this situation? It would appear that these cops went to the Barney Fife academy of overzealousness. There was a reason Andy kept a tight reign on ol' Barney...

[fightinbluhen51]

I’m surprised no one has commented on the moral of the story, public school administrators that over step their power bounds and kick completely innocent kids off of teams.

[Alex Murphy]

“Nonetheless, we were able to taser two dogs and a parked tricycle, so it wasn't a total loss.”

ROTFL! Were any swans injured or captured during the raid?

[Sybeck1]

Myself and some friends got pulled over with some ICW Rootbeer bottles, with Barney Fife thinking they were open containers. Later that night they were swapped for some Buds.