Law Buffs Read....In In Trouble(LONG)

Dusstbuster · Oct 12, 2006

Alright well i've typed this out way too much but I want to get as many opinions on it as I can. I'm going to just copy and paste stuff that i've posted elsewhere and any questions you guys might have or whatever I can answer. Anything in quotations is just from another post I copied...

Moorhead, MN is where i'm from, this party was in Fargo, ND. Basically even though they are separate states the authorities treat it as one town in one state. The total population is about 150,000, and it made the paper....shows you how much goes on here.

I'm going to sound like a stupid college student or someone trying to "stick it to the man" on this but believe me, i'm not. Many times I believe law enforcment is in the right and whatnot but this time they are COMPLETELY lieing and I know this first hand.

First off, in the paper they said the party was OUT OF HAND and nobody was cooperating and a bunch of BS like that. In fact, that night I think a total of 4 people tried to run. The house was the type that has a front screened in porch, and what ACTUALLY happened was 50+ kids were trying to pack in there after peacefully and cooperativly handing over their ID's to the officer at the door. Many who hadn't been drinking asked if they could take a breathalyzer right away and be let go and the officers said no. Then one kid broke a window and tried to run, they obviously caught him, and said "well thanks to this kid you're all getting a ticket." that is word for word what he said. They then handed out the ID's they'd collected and started calling out people to the various officers who wrote out the citations. I can honestly tell you I didn't see ANYONE personally who was being disrespectful in any way, everyone was just waiting in the porch for their name to be called, in fact I talked to several officers after i'd been cited who thanked us for our cooperation.

THEN on top of that bull... I had 5 friends as I mentioned in the other thread who were with us. 4 of them go to Mankato (5 hours away in southern MN) and 1 goes to Fergus (45 Min away in MN)... 2 of them were not originally from Moorhead, the others were. 2 of them were girls (the 1 girl goes to fergus, the other goes to mankato) and they were issued their citations and let go no questions asked. The other 3, guys, 1 of which was originally from Moorhead and has family in Moorhead who was in contact with the police DURING the bust. The moment they came out and talked to the officers they were all put into the back of cop cars. I asked an officer why they were back there and he said they were under arrest because they couldn't sign the tickets due to being out of state. When I said "why did you let those girls go when they are not going to a local college" they couldn't give me a straight answer and said basically "you're friends are going to jail." Well according to their logic then the 2 girls they let go no questions asked should have been arrested as well, but they wern't. Even if it wasn't meant to be sexist, this is sexism if you ask me. Either arrest EVERYONE who is from out of state or NONE. Also 1 of the kids that was arrested was not drinking at all and the 2 girls both had been. Overall it was a crap situation and the parents of the kid who was arrested are extremely tweaked now that they know the events behind the arrest.

Basically the paper interviewed the cocky lead officer on the call i'm guessing and he lied out of his butt about what really happened. Unless 3-6 people are their representation of the whole party they're lieing piles of dog doo. And now like I said, the judge is raising everyones fine from $100 to $500 and telling everyone to "stop taking stupid pills before you go out."

Here is the newspaper article

Fargo police cite 54 at loud party Saturday
Forum staff reports, The Forum
Published Monday, October 09, 2006
· advertisement ·
Timing is everything, and if you want to have a loud party in Fargo, don’t crank it up when the police change shifts.

It probably would help not to break any windows while trying to get away, either.

Fifty-four people were cited for noisy party or gathering Saturday night at 1019 9th Ave. S., police reported.

Police were called to the scene about 11:10 on a citizen complaint. When they arrived, several people fled on foot and some partygoers inside the residence broke windows trying to flee, police Sgt. Mathew Sanders said Sunday.

Most of those arrested ranged in age from 18 to early 20s, with 22 of them coming from nearby North Dakota State University, Sanders said. No one was reported injured, he said.

“Anytime we have a loud party of this size and the lack of cooperation we had, we have no option but enforcement,” Sanders said. “The night shift was coming on, and we had the manpower.”

And my most recent info on the case

Well my friend just got done with his hearing and he got $500. He brought his dad with him too since he's an air force colonel in hopes that it would help, but it didn't. He didn't get the "stupid pills" comment but did say the judge was a jerk to everyone but him. He also said that it was stupid because people before him were getting $175-$250 fines for minor in consumption, urinating in public, etc. and a loud party citation is bringing in $500...this is bogus.

So what do you guys think? I don't think this is right by any means, and like I mentioned I probably sound like a stupid 18 year old trying to get out of a ticket but honestly if I felt I deserved the ticket/fine i'd suck it up and pay it and learn from it. This is just WAY overboard...they're making $27,000 off this party. On top of that I think blanket citations like this deter people from being a designated driver because whats the point in DD'ing if you're going to get a $500 fine just for being there?!!?! A stupid minor in consumption would get you a smaller fine!!

GT89Mustang · Oct 12, 2006

If theres that many of you get a lawyer and file a major suit(sp?) or just get your own lawyer and be done with the whole thing. Not sure how posting it on a bunch of sites is going to help. If your in trouble with the law get a lawyer, thats what their there for.

SilverBullet00 · Oct 12, 2006

shoooot, my cousin lives up there- she goes to concordia @ moorhead. Anyways, that is total crap- if that happend here the police would break up the party and tell the DD's to take everyone home and NOT hand out tickets.

But in the same sense the law is in black and white, if you are under 21 alcohol consumption is illegal. A big party with loud music in a small town with under age drinkers is a just asking for trouble.

What did you get cited for exactly?

Dusstbuster · Oct 12, 2006

Id consider a lawyer but a lawyer would cost more than then fine. The citation was a "loud party" citation, not a minor in posession/consumption/anything like that. Thats what i'm mad about, people in the court that got minors and other various infractions that i'd say are "worse" than a loud party citation were getting off with $200 tickets and then they're giving everyone at this party that only got "loud party" citations a $500 fine and chewing us out like we are the satan spawn of th earth.

Silver im @ Concordia w/ friends sometimes i've possibly met your cousin haha.

Kilgore Trout · Oct 12, 2006

Take your punishment and learn from it.

Dusstbuster · Oct 12, 2006

Kilgore Trout said:
Take your punishment and learn from it.

Do you honestly believe $500 is fair punishment for a noise ordinence? The city is going to make $27,000 off of noise ordinances from this party alone...

Kilgore Trout · Oct 12, 2006

Nope I do not think it is fair. Life is not fair, that is one thing to take away from this experience... I do believe that there may be extenuating circumstances such as continual problems with noise/partys in the city, cops with attitudes, etc.

But ain't no miracle gonna happen and save you IMHO. And $500 is kinda low to try to fight with a lawyer.

As Baretta always says; "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time"

Dusstbuster · Oct 12, 2006

According to the city of fargo website the bond for the citation I receieved is listed at $100, it doesn't give a range. So if one were to pre-plan the "time" for their crime they'd be sadly mistaken when the actual punishment is 5x worse than what it was said to be.

Also I believe, though it's a long shot, that $500 could be considered "cruel and/or unusual" for a noise ordinance. I think the two things are the fact that this police department is known for its ego's and the judge had a family member killed by a drunk driver (he's only going to be creating more drunk drivers with the rulings he's handing out).

Kilgore Trout · Oct 12, 2006

Just pay the fine mang...

Henceforward · Oct 12, 2006

Newspaper said:
Saturday night at 11:10

Citizen complaint

Who in the **** is dumb enough, old enough, and rude enough to call in ANYTHING at 11PM? ON SATURDAY... There is NO excuse for that crap.

Good God, it's like when Laurence Welk is over it's time for bed...

I would be talking to the CITIZEN who called you in...

Man, College Parties around here go on until 3 a.m. Must suck to live in small town wherever.

SilverBullet00 · Oct 12, 2006

It could be different there, but here i beleive it goes something like the person responsible for the party gets a hefty ticket (loud party) and all the people attending get a warning or MIC/MIP. If you can look up the citation number at the city website, it should give exact criteria of what you should have done to receive it.

I know someone here that got a ticket for exhibition of speed. Now in Kansas there are for sub citations, a-d, which are different variations of exhibiting speed. He was racing a car on a bike and got pulled over for racing, but the ticket the cop wrote was for excesive acceleration (point c) instead of speed contest (part b). He went to court and told the judge he was racing the car from a 40mph roll- didnt get a ticket for it because the cop screwed up, and they cant issue another ticket because you cant be tried for the same offense twice. So check the statue out

d98gt · Oct 12, 2006

Minors shouldn't be drinking at all

Kilgore Trout · Oct 12, 2006

Henceforward said:
Who in the **** is dumb enough, old enough, and rude enough to call in ANYTHING at 11PM? ON SATURDAY... There is NO excuse for that crap.

Get back to me when you have worked your azz off to buy a house and then are prevented from enjoying it in the manner you wish by the loud and disturbing actions of your neighbor's underage children.

Dusstbuster · Oct 12, 2006

The owner is 20 and he has yet to recieve any citation for the party. The funny thing is, it wasn't loud. I checked the dispatch logs and the caller said that "they noticed several people walking in and out" of the building. So it wasn't a caller saying it was loud, it was that they noticed there was lots of activity that looked partyish, then the cops cited us with "loud party"

10/07/06 23:09:50 LP LOUD PARTY LOTS OF PEOPLE GOING IN AND OUT 1000 BLK 9 AVE N

RedDaemon · Oct 12, 2006

well...if they dont match......u dont need a lawyer

myponyrocks · Oct 12, 2006

d98gt said:
Minors shouldn't be drinking at all

I thought the OP WAS NOT drinking, and thats his complaint, his fine is more than the kids with MIPs

d98gt · Oct 12, 2006

Not too sure however it's kind of like if you went to a party where illegal drugs were being done... You were at the location of where an illegal action was taking place and that could result in problems being as you are there. You might not be taking part in the actual process, however you are included since you are there, if that makes sense at all

Dusstbuster · Oct 13, 2006

Yeah but if that was the case instead of getting a loud party we should have received minors in posession, or something along those lines. Basically, like I siad, we're all getting a $500 noise ordinance.

DocG · Oct 13, 2006

While $500 bucks seems steep, I probably wouldn't think so if I was the poor guy living next door. Maybe I'm getting old at 29.....but with my house, I get pissy when neighbors are being loud outside after 11 or so. Especially since the houses are so close and I can hear conversations in my bedroom. I'm not saying i call the cops when the neighbors fart too loud, but to have 15 people drunk and talking very loudly and being obnoxious, yeah it pisses me off. I don't call the police, but I'll yell out the window to "shut the **** up"

Now is it fair to cite the entire crowd, probably not. Be more fair to cite the homeowner a couple of thousand bucks maybe to discourage another party at that location, but there's no evidence to support that each and every person there was contributing to the "loudness" of the party. Heck, I would claim I was in the back screwing the judges daughter, and while she is loud, she's certainly not that loud

Uncle Meat · Oct 13, 2006

Well if I were the neighbor that complained about the noise I would feel the fines and repercussions are justified.

There's no way you guys were being "nice thoughtful neighbors" if there were 54 18-20 year olds drinking together at a party in a single home...

Sorry, but no sympathy here...

U.M.

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