sKratch
10-21-2006, 11:48 PM
Gather round, kids. It's story time!
I live in an on-campus apartment, and we like to throw parties once in a while. It's, for the most part, people we (there are 6 of us) know directly, and sometimes trusted friend-of-a-friend type people. We've never had a problem and everyone always has a good time. This time was different.
Enter several douchebags.
There may have been more, but I distinctly remember two kids who I didn't know, and I could tell right off the bat that they weren't A+ people. They arrived drunk, and proceeded to take shots and drink beer. One gentleman, who I had seen before but do not know, got really drunk and started vomiting in the bathroom. An EMT that happened to be at our party decided that we should call an ambulance for him, so we did. The ambulance arrived with an escort named Officer Friendly. Officer Friendly began to knock on our door. We did not respond. He began to knock on our door with more gusto. I cracked the door and struck up a conversation with him. He wasn't much for small talk. He asked for my ID, so I produced it being careful not to show that I had a second expired license that he would probably confiscate. He felt we were being "evasive" and he wanted to come in to "make sure everyone was alright." I pointed out that I was aware of my rights, and he had no reason to enter my apartment without my consent. This made Officer Friendly turn into Officer Angrypants. I guess the University Police doesn't like dealing with people who don't like incriminating themselves. The next part of the conversation went something like this:
"I need to come in and see what's going on in there."
"Officer I'm not sure why you need to come in here."
"Are you going to let me in or not?"
"Well what happens if I say no?"
"I'm going to call for back-up and we're going to go inside and see what's going on."
"Um... are you allowed to do that?"
"So are you not letting me in?"
"That's not what I said officer, I'm just trying to act within my rights."
"SUNY-29, requesting backup."
Yay! More friends to talk to!
Eventually, my good friend the officer began inquiring as to who else was in the apartment, and asked me who else was 21. I tactfully went around his question and asked him if he wanted me to bring in everyone who lived in the apartment. He wasn't happy with that arrangement, and continued to insist he be let in and shown everyone who was inside. Pretty soon, one of my buddies inside had the misfortune of strolling by the doorway, in sight of the officer. He non-chalantly turned around and went the other way. Officer Friendly wasn't having that. He took several strides into the apartment and asked my buddy to come outside and show him ID. To this I asked, "Excuse me, why did you just breach my doorway?" He seemed to indicate that he had to go get the kid who was snaking around inside. I'm pretty sure that's an illegal entry. However, at this point, he knew that there was beer-a-plenty inside the apartment.
Unfortunately we only have two 21 year olds living in the apartment, and only one was here tonight. Officer Angrypants turned into Officer Smartguy. According to his astute mathematical calculations, it didn't make much sense for one man to be drinking all this beer. I assured him that there had been other people present who were 21, and legally were able to consume alcohol. I'm not too sure if he bought it, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. He made us dump out all the beer we had left, and a bottle of 99 Apples too. This hurt me deep inside, but I've been through more difficult times. Officer Friendly and gang (he had a lady friend by his side inside the apartment through the latter part of the ordeal) began to ease up a little. We reminisced on my uncooperative nature, and I responded frankly that I didn't want to be exploited in terms of my rights. I added, "What I really don't like is that we were concerned for the well-being of this kid and wanted to help him, and now we are getting punished for it." Officer Friendly said that we were not receiving tickets because we had helped the kid. Soon, they were all gone and the ten or fifteen people who had been in hiding in various rooms went along their merry way. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but it was a most joyious occasion that I hope to experience again many times in the future.
Oh yeah, and some kid jumped out of our second story window to get away, breaking the screen and damaging the frame. That was pretty cool.
I live in an on-campus apartment, and we like to throw parties once in a while. It's, for the most part, people we (there are 6 of us) know directly, and sometimes trusted friend-of-a-friend type people. We've never had a problem and everyone always has a good time. This time was different.
Enter several douchebags.
There may have been more, but I distinctly remember two kids who I didn't know, and I could tell right off the bat that they weren't A+ people. They arrived drunk, and proceeded to take shots and drink beer. One gentleman, who I had seen before but do not know, got really drunk and started vomiting in the bathroom. An EMT that happened to be at our party decided that we should call an ambulance for him, so we did. The ambulance arrived with an escort named Officer Friendly. Officer Friendly began to knock on our door. We did not respond. He began to knock on our door with more gusto. I cracked the door and struck up a conversation with him. He wasn't much for small talk. He asked for my ID, so I produced it being careful not to show that I had a second expired license that he would probably confiscate. He felt we were being "evasive" and he wanted to come in to "make sure everyone was alright." I pointed out that I was aware of my rights, and he had no reason to enter my apartment without my consent. This made Officer Friendly turn into Officer Angrypants. I guess the University Police doesn't like dealing with people who don't like incriminating themselves. The next part of the conversation went something like this:
"I need to come in and see what's going on in there."
"Officer I'm not sure why you need to come in here."
"Are you going to let me in or not?"
"Well what happens if I say no?"
"I'm going to call for back-up and we're going to go inside and see what's going on."
"Um... are you allowed to do that?"
"So are you not letting me in?"
"That's not what I said officer, I'm just trying to act within my rights."
"SUNY-29, requesting backup."
Yay! More friends to talk to!
Eventually, my good friend the officer began inquiring as to who else was in the apartment, and asked me who else was 21. I tactfully went around his question and asked him if he wanted me to bring in everyone who lived in the apartment. He wasn't happy with that arrangement, and continued to insist he be let in and shown everyone who was inside. Pretty soon, one of my buddies inside had the misfortune of strolling by the doorway, in sight of the officer. He non-chalantly turned around and went the other way. Officer Friendly wasn't having that. He took several strides into the apartment and asked my buddy to come outside and show him ID. To this I asked, "Excuse me, why did you just breach my doorway?" He seemed to indicate that he had to go get the kid who was snaking around inside. I'm pretty sure that's an illegal entry. However, at this point, he knew that there was beer-a-plenty inside the apartment.
Unfortunately we only have two 21 year olds living in the apartment, and only one was here tonight. Officer Angrypants turned into Officer Smartguy. According to his astute mathematical calculations, it didn't make much sense for one man to be drinking all this beer. I assured him that there had been other people present who were 21, and legally were able to consume alcohol. I'm not too sure if he bought it, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. He made us dump out all the beer we had left, and a bottle of 99 Apples too. This hurt me deep inside, but I've been through more difficult times. Officer Friendly and gang (he had a lady friend by his side inside the apartment through the latter part of the ordeal) began to ease up a little. We reminisced on my uncooperative nature, and I responded frankly that I didn't want to be exploited in terms of my rights. I added, "What I really don't like is that we were concerned for the well-being of this kid and wanted to help him, and now we are getting punished for it." Officer Friendly said that we were not receiving tickets because we had helped the kid. Soon, they were all gone and the ten or fifteen people who had been in hiding in various rooms went along their merry way. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but it was a most joyious occasion that I hope to experience again many times in the future.
Oh yeah, and some kid jumped out of our second story window to get away, breaking the screen and damaging the frame. That was pretty cool.