News

Beer pong binge party nets 24 arrests

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Police arrested 24 young people at what they said was an “illegal binge party” in Bonney Lake where a beer pong table was set up and a woman with alcohol poisoning was found on the bathroom floor.

A party intervention patrol on April 6 coordinated by the Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force resulted in the arrest of 24 people, ages 18-21, on charges of minor in possession.

Police said included in those arrested was a woman who was taken to jail for making false statements, a drunken man who insisted he would drive home once released from the site, and a woman who was taken to the hospital by medics when she was discovered semiconscious and suffering from alcohol poisoning on the bathroom floor of the Bonney Lake apartment where the illegal binge party took place.

Police received a tip from neighbors shortly before midnight that saying a large group of young people was spotted coming and going in the 8400 block of Locust Avenue. Officers said they discovered that two underage renters were throwing a birthday party for their friends.

Plainclothes officers conducting surveillance in the area before the arrests said they came upon two partially dressed young people in a car who said they had been drinking at the party.

“With a beer pong table set up on the kitchen table and party favors consisting of Everclear, orange juice and marijuana, it appears we shut this party down before anyone really got hurt,” said Sumner police Sgt. Matt Kurle.

Police said additional patrols focusing on post-arrest substance abuse interventions and meetings with parents will continue through the prom and graduation season and into the summer when police say many teens will take their  parties outside.