Thirty-two people have been arrested over the past two weekends as police and community volunteers crack down on teen drinking parties in Pierce County, including one in Bonney Lake that police discovered by following intoxicated drivers.
The arrests were the result of two Party Intervention Patrols coordinated by the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force and the Puyallup and Gig Harbor police departments on Oct. 22 and Oct. 29. Arrests included 29 youths, ages 17-20; two adults who are accused of supplying a party house; and a third adult for also providing her home to underage drinkers.
The arrests on Oct. 22 were made at two parties in Bonney Lake and Edgewood and at Puyallup High School.
Arriving to the Edgewood party, police immediately summoned emergency personnel to respond to a female underage drinker who was exhibiting signs of alcohol poisoning and another who had been assaulted. The injured youth was transported to the hospital.
Others arrested during the Oct. 22 round-up in East Pierce County included:
· Two 19-year-olds who had attended the Puyallup High School Homecoming Dance, one of whom had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the adult legal limit for driving.
· Two adult townhome renters in Edgewood being booked into the Pierce County Jail for allowing youths under 21 to consume liquor in their home.
· A caravan of underage drivers who unintentionally led police to the residence of a highly intoxicated mother of a 17-year-old in Bonney Lake, where an underage drinking party was underway.
· A 21-year-old arrested on a $99,000 DUI warrant.
“The most important thing,” said Puyallup Police Sgt. Bob Thompson, “was that 29 youths asked for and got help from chemical dependency professionals. Also, parents of the kids, including those parenting 18- to 20 year-olds, were given tools to motivate their son or daughter to stop drinking.”
Nine officers and deputies scouring hot spots in Gig Harbor and on Key Peninsula on Oct. 29 did not find any parties involving minors. “I hope this means kids are thinking twice before drinking because of the random multi-agency Party Intervention Patrols and the ongoing aggressive enforcement of underage drinking by local police departments,” said Gig Harbor Police Sgt. Kelly Busey, who coordinated the effort.
In its fourth year of operation, Pierce County’s Party Intervention Patrol has been proven by an external evaluator to change youth and parent attitudes and behaviors that can result in underage drinking deaths and injuries.
This project, believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation, is managed by the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force, Pierce County Community Connections and the Puyallup Police Department.
More than 20 community volunteers and chemical dependency professionals team up with law enforcement to provide the patrols throughout the school year. Participating law enforcement agencies include the Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Orting, Gig Harbor, Fife, University Place, Tacoma, Fircrest and Buckley police departments, along with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State Patrol. The project is currently funded by a grant from the Washington Impaired Driving Council.
