Drinking arrests cause friction between ND students, police
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Updated: 7:49 AM Sep 1, 2010
Drinking arrests cause friction between ND students, police
South Bend, IN
On Monday night, 10 students were arrested at a house party in connection with underage drinking – the third South Bend underage drinking bust in four nights. Police say they are more likely to arrest this year than to issue citations.
Posted: 10:24 PM Aug 31, 2010
Reporter: Nick McGurk
Email Address: nick.mcgurk@wndu.com
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After Monday, the total number of alcohol-related arrests is more than 100 people since July, and many of them are Notre Dame students.

On Monday, Notre Dame spokesperson Dennis Brown released this statement:

"We clearly don’t condone underage drinking or gatherings that infringe on the rights of others. At the same time, the welfare of our students is our highest priority, and we have concerns about the handling of some recent incidents that we are actively addressing through appropriate channels."

One complaint is from Andrew Rust, an underage student who was arrested on Friday night at a house party on the 1300 block of North St. Joseph Street. Police say they responded because of a noise complaint.

"Before they put me in handcuffs I asked to take a breathalyzer,” said Rust. Instead, he says, police put him in handcuffs and took him to the St Joseph County Jail.

“At jail, I received a breathalyzer and blew triple zeroes, so I hadn't been drinking, but they still proceeded to put me in jail, where I stayed from 1 til 9:30 the next morning,” he said.

"It seemed like they wanted, more than anything else, to put us in jail, and that's not right,” said Rust.

In total, 21 people were arrested for underage drinking, two were arrested for public intoxication and one person was arrested for resisting arrest, police said.

"Regardless of what the circumstances of the party are, if the neighbors start complaining of course we're going to respond,” said Capt. Phil Trent with South Bend Police.

“We can't just ignore these things, we don't live in a day in age where we can simply ignore these issues any longer. It's a tremendous liability issue for everybody, including the renters of the house and law enforcement who have to act appropriately with the circumstances,” said Trent.

Still, many neighbors say they didn’t hear anything on Friday night.

"I never heard any loud music, or never heard any commotion, or there were no kids running around through the street or carrying on outside,” said Ben Cashman, who lives next door.

“I think it was maybe a little bit over-reaction,” he added, though he and his wife Mary say they don’t promote underage drinking.

As for Tony Flora, a neighbor who lives across the street, he didn’t hear anything either.

"I didn't even know it happened, I didn't even know it was happening and I'm just a few yards away,” he said.

Capt. Trent says he doesn’t want to alienate the student body with the recent arrests. But, he says, underage drinking is illegal and he says police will be responding to neighbor complaints.



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