When beers lead to tears: IU tailgate

A young woman had just finished urinating. Now she was crying, her hands cuffed behind her back.

She was being led up the hill by Cpl. Travis Thickstun, an Indiana State Excise Police officer in plain clothes. She wore a red bandana around her blonde ponytail and her phone was still in her right hand.

Early Saturday afternoon, before IU’s defeat of South Carolina State, a group of uniformed IU Police Department officers stood looking down. The Red Lot of the tailgate fields was a sea of red, pulsing as one. It was a sea of sunglasses and Solo cups, bare midriffs and backwards hats. Blow-up beer bottles were smacked toward the sky.

To many IU students, tailgating is a place where the rules of real life are suspended, a bubble of protection. But with 99 citations in the first two weeks of IU’s home football season, it also has consequences.

***

Thickstun led the woman to a white tent at the edge of the parking lot on Fess Avenue. It serves as a booking unit, organized by the Monroe County Sheriff’s office to keep things running smoothly and allow officers to return to the fields quickly.

Thickstun found her at about 2 p.m., near a clump of trees, exposed and urinating. He asked her to pull up her shorts, but she wasn’t finished. When she was, she couldn’t stand. She fell against a tree and leaned on it for support.

Now, inside the tent, a female officer came up behind the crying woman and gently tugged at the bow in her hair. The hair fell in a loose curtain, hiding the tears rolling down the tailgater’s face. The officer took out the woman’s earrings and placed them in a plain, brown, paper bag. Nothing metallic is allowed in the jail.

A few minutes later, the woman stepped into one of the big white vans used to transport the arrested students to the jail. She was being cited for minor consumption of alcohol, public nudity, public intoxication and resisting an officer. She’s only 18 years old, but her blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit to drive a car.

She was taken to the Monroe County Jail and required to stay in detox until she blew zero on the breathalyzer. Soon, she’ll be in court.

***

Director of Student Legal Services Randy Frykberg often deals with the people who get in trouble. He said thinking the tailgate fields are a rule-free zone can often be part of the problem.

“The greatest misconception is that somehow this is a protected zone or a law-free zone where you kind of drink at your will, and that doesn’t apply at all,” he said. “All that it is is essentially a big pen of people often doing illegal things, which makes it remarkably easy for police to ticket them.”

Because they cannot target everyone, many IUPD officers said they look for people who are drawing attention to themselves — those starting fights, urinating in public or causing harm to themselves or others.

“If they wanted to haul in everyone who was drunk at the tailgate lot, they’d have to essentially put bars on the tailgate lot,” Frykberg said.

Still, IUPD Chief Keith Cash said there is no reason to arrest everyone.

“You’ll see it’s loud, but it’s people tailgating,” Cash said. “Just because you’re loud and having fun doesn’t mean you’re breaking the law.”

***

Farther back in the Red Lot stood David Fishler. He was visiting from New York for his daughter’s sorority weekend, and he stood near the back of a dance area while his daughter showed him what tailgating is all about.

“There doesn’t appear to be any rules,” he said. “I think you really have to go over the limit to get in trouble.”

Two girls sat on the ground, surrounded by officers. One was leaning back on her friend, cradled between her knees. Her right leg was tucked under her body and she was whimpering. She didn’t know what was going on.

“Allison, it’s okay. Everyone is here to help you,” her friend said.

The officers tried to lift her onto a nearby golf cart, but her left shoe fell off, and her stomach was exposed.

Four officers heaved again, this time lifting her limp body onto the back bench, her head hanging off the back. Two of them held her while the other two climbed into the front to drive.

As they drove away, a man with a beer and a blue backpack snapped a photo with his phone.

The golf cart stalled on its way up the hill, and Allison went tumbling onto the step of the cart like a rag doll. Her feet hung off, her left sock bunched up. The officers carried her off to the grass as the EMT unit arrived. One of the officers tugged her sock back on and pulled her shoe over it. He tied the laces.

Nearby someone tossed a beer into the air. The foam went spinning widly, spraying the crowd, and fizzled out like a firework.

The EMTs began giving Allison external rubs — hard presses with their knuckles on her sternum — which stimulated nerve endings to pull her back to consciousness. As they tried to hook up tubes to her mouth to give her oxygen, she smacked their hands away.

Soon, the ambulance arrived, its lights pulsing rhythmically. Allison was loaded onto the stretcher and pulled under the metal chain that separates the parking lot from the field.

Allison went to the hospital, like everyone else who blows more than a .25. Even though she’s 21, she’d have a citation for public intoxication waiting for her.

***

A golf cart of police officers pulled up to a truck. The Red Lot beyond the silver gates had been cleared, crushed cups and cans left behind. Girls in tutus danced, a baseline thumping. The back of the truck was set up like a DJ stand, the ground in front was the dance floor.

The officer made a slashing sign at his throat — turn it off.

“Everyone’s just messed up looking to have a good time,” junior Vadim Slezberg said. “Good people, good times. They think they’re trying to help us out, but they’re here to screw us over. Tailgates are the core of this school in the fall. There’s no reason we should be discouraged by cops for supporting our school."

Slezberg remained adamant about his rights to party. He stood in the middle of a mass of people, sweaty and sunsoaked.

He was going to keep tailgating despite the lack of music. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue.


Ways to get locked up

Public Intoxication: If you're 21 and intoxicated in public, it's still a crime, even if you're not above .08. That limit only applies when operating a vehicle.

Public Nudity: A lesser offense than indecent exposure, public nudity is still punishable by as many as 60 days in jail. The law was added in 2003 so an act like urinating in public would not be treated the same as intentionally fondling oneself in a crowd of people.

Resisting Arrest: Resisting law enforcement, which includes running from an officer or disobeying a lawful order, is a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of $5,000.

Minor Consumption: It is a Class C misdemeanor to be in possession of, consume or transport an alcoholic beverage. If you're underage and have had any alcohol at all, you've broken Indiana law. Excise police are often in plain clothes and target underage drinkers.