Non-drinking minor at drinking party

[wood1014]

So I have a question. This may be a dumb question but I just want to make sure.

If I'm a minor at a party where almost everyone is drinking... but I'm not drinking because I'm a designated driver... and the police come to break up the party... can I get into any legal problems with being there even if I'm not drinking at all (in Washington State)?

I just wanted to check. Thanks------

[txinvestigator1]

yes, you could.

[Switchback]

Oh yeah!

They call it visiting a common nuisance around here!

[Piggy]

Not to mention it's a black mark on your record.

[tpd_six]

^^^ What they said. You can still be charged with illegal possession of alcohol here, as well as disorderly, contributing, or whatever else people there are doing.

[Joeyd6]

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor....endangering the welfare of a minor....providing a minor with alcohol......we can add from there...

[wood1014]

Maybe I didn't say that right... (or maybe I did and you're responding accordingly).

I AM the minor... so I'm not supplying alcohol to minors...

And I'm NOT drinking... so if I don't touch it... I can't be "in possession" can I?

I understand the disorderly conduct or whatever else the party could get in touble with the law for.


Also... does anyone know about the law specifically in Washington?

I'm just trying to keep others safe (being the DD) without getting myself in trouble.

[sgtbear111]

Revised Code of Washington excerpt:
RCW 66.44.270
Furnishing liquor to minors -- Possession, use -- Penalties -- Exhibition of effects--Exceptions.
(1) It is unlawful for any person to sell, give, or otherwise supply liquor to any person under the age of twenty-one years or permit any person under that age to consume liquor on his or her premises or on any premises under his or her control. For the purposes of this subsection, "premises" includes real property, houses, buildings, and other structures, and motor vehicles and watercraft. A violation of this subsection is a gross misdemeanor punishable as provided for in chapter 9A.20 RCW.
(2)(a) It is unlawful for any person under the age of twenty-one years to possess, consume, or otherwise acquire any liquor. A violation of this subsection is a gross misdemeanor punishable as provided for in chapter 9A.20 RCW.
(b) It is unlawful for a person under the age of twenty-one years to be in a public place, or to be in a motor vehicle in a public place, while exhibiting the effects of having consumed liquor. For purposes of this subsection, exhibiting the effects of having consumed liquor means that a person has the odor of liquor on his or her breath and either: (i) Is in possession of or close proximity to a container that has or recently had liquor in it; or (ii) by speech, manner, appearance, behavior, lack of coordination, or otherwise, exhibits that he or she is under the influence of liquor. This subsection (2)(b) does not apply if the person is in the presence of a parent or guardian or has consumed or is consuming liquor under circumstances described in subsection (4) or (5) of this section.

Pay attention to the statute below.

RCW 66.44.365
Juvenile driving privileges -- Alcohol or drug violations.

(1) If a juvenile thirteen years of age or older and under the age of eighteen is found by a court to have committed any offense that is a violation of this chapter, the court shall notify the department of licensing within twenty-four hours after entry of the judgment.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, upon petition of a juvenile whose privilege to drive has been revoked pursuant to RCW 46.20.265, the court may notify the department of licensing that the juvenile's privilege to drive should be reinstated.

(3) If the conviction is for the juvenile's first violation of this chapter or chapter 69.41, 69.50, or 69.52 RCW, a juvenile may not petition the court for reinstatement of the juvenile's privilege to drive revoked pursuant to RCW 46.20.265 until the later of ninety days after the date the juvenile turns sixteen or ninety days after the judgment was entered. If the conviction was for the juvenile's second or subsequent violation of this chapter or chapter 69.41, 69.50, or 69.52 RCW, the juvenile may not petition the court for reinstatement of the juvenile's privilege to drive revoked pursuant to RCW 46.20.265 until the later of the date the juvenile turns seventeen or one year after the date judgment was entered.

Above is from the WA State Legislature website. FYI-RCW 69... is drugs.

Legal consequences, by the book, but there is more. Your friends, your decision, your risk, your future. If you want to claim some special status, exception or circumstance, get the advice of a criminal defense lawyer. The LEO's here at RP make the arrests based on what they see and find, and that is called probable cause.

Never forget you are accountable for any crimes or stunts your drunk passengers may perform. Some really bad things do happen, so here's some horror show excerpts we have all seen as LEO's. I draw these from my experiences as a Deputy and Trooper, and as a Sgt. both places.

You flee the party with a car load of "friends" as the police arrive, you have already broken the law. You gave a ride to some friends and some "friend of a friend" has jumped in your car. He turns out to be a real criminal out of Green Hill. He gives you one of a dozen phony names, and he likes your girlfriend - a lot, only have younger weaker boys in the "joint". He thanks you for getting him out of a parole violation or being caught for escaping custody. You are now a part of committing a felony. Other drunk "friends" think he's "cool". You are just the driver, right?? You want to be "cool" too??

(Ever heard of the Green Hill School in Chehalis WA, right next to I-5? Why do all the athletic fields have razor wire on the fences, and all the windows have bars? Hint - there are some 15 year old rapists and murderers in there.)

One or more drunk passengers want to go elsewhere so they pull your steeriing wheel and you go off the road and hit and kill someone. (Consequences?)

A rape occurs in backseat of your car.(Consequences?)

Green Hill Boy asks you to stop at a convenience store, then returns to your car holding a gun, money, smokes & booze, and bloody. You thought the "pop" was a firecracker. This guy says "drive", and being scared you do what he says. (Consequences?).

You might be asked to stop at another "friend's" house, someone goes in and comes back with some meth/crank. Want some?? Two blocks away you are stopped by (a) other bad crooks who rob you and steal your car, and rape the girl..... or (b) if your luck is better, you are stopped by the police who watched the drug buy and arrest all of you and seize your car. (Consequences?).

Here you are in handcuffs, sittiing in the back of a squad car. Your "friends" or "friends of friends" have been carrying booze, dope, stolen property or weapons in your car. They have, or are now, stashing the bad things anywhere inside your car, including your coat pocket and under your seat. Why? So if stopped by the police they dont have them "on their person", and they are all blaming you (Consequences?). Then the drunk girl in the car screams "rape" either because it did happen in your car, or she tells lies to shift blame from her and get her parent's sympathy. (Consequences?).

A consequence: Police, usually a Sergeant and Officer, and if they are lucky with a Police Chaplain, are telling all the parents that their child died instantly when the car hit the tree.

They stay only briefly, and they go to the other families & friends, getting close neighbors and pastors to help and to stay with devastated moms and dads. When all is done the cops go back to their cars, drive off, and find a place to cry by themselves. The Chaplain will pray. They will all cry again when safely home, after hugging their kids.

The police do not say the car was going 100mph and that they and firefighters had to cut the car open while standing in a puddle of blood in the Fire Dept equipment bay. They are removing all the compressed bodies, and the Medical Examiner sends pieces of bodies to the crime lab, to identify them and help find out who was driving. Worse if the car burned, and it smells awful. Have to determine if the occupants were still alive when they burned.

But, if you're lucky enough to get close to home, the "friend of a friend" from Green Hill will not get out of your car and robs your family at gunpoint, then takes the car.

Get the picture? If you must go, there are real risks from the behavior of others. Kids should have an agreement with their parents, to be picked up by a parent at the party (or pay for a taxi), not at the County Morgue.

Your decision, your consequences, your future. You are really like everyone else, you are not immortal or bulletproof, nor exempt from having bad things happen to you, even on a good day, so why go looking for it ?

Your friends when sober at school, may not be the same people or have the same discretion in friends when drunk or stoned.

RP/LEO brothers and sisters, I'm off my soapbox now. Just too damn many memories of dead kids.

[Ranger__101]

Generally around here if your the minor and you have not had a drop you can't get in trouble for alchol violations but there are some requirements to report the contact to your school. There may also be a call to your parents and if there any other violations that could be found on you, you'd get them.

It comes down to "guilt by association". It's much better for you to say out of those situations.

[Joeyd6]

Excellent post Sgt Bear!

[Toeknee112]

Why are all of the MIPs with these questions from Washington?

[dwf]

Why are all of the MIPs with these questions from Washington?

Hadn't noticed that before you mentioned it...maybe it has something to do with the rain?

There are so many variables involved that it is nearly impossible to give you a yes or no answer. Strictly speaking, if you haven't been drinking and aren't holding anything in your hand when we show up then you haven't committed a crime.

However,

As Sgt Bear pointed out there are so many things that can go wrong when teens and alcohol mix, it boggles the mind. Being sober will absolve you of some of the potential problems and at the same time opens the door to more. You were the sober one so you should have known better. As hard as it can be sometimes to avoid things like this when a teen, bear in mind that mistakes can and do have lifelong consequence.

Also, although perhaps not charged with the crime of MIP, you will be listed in a police report as being involved. This is not something that will go away and if you ever have to go through an intensive background check it will show up and you will have to explain it.

My advice is to you is don't leave yourself vulnerable and drive your designated butt out of there as soon as you see illegal activities occurring. Though it may seem so at the time, the potential risks are not worth the couple hours of "fun."

[txinvestigator1]

Maybe I didn't say that right... (or maybe I did and you're responding accordingly).

I AM the minor... so I'm not supplying alcohol to minors...

And I'm NOT drinking... so if I don't touch it... I can't be "in possession" can I?

I understand the disorderly conduct or whatever else the party could get in touble with the law for.


Also... does anyone know about the law specifically in Washington?

I'm just trying to keep others safe (being the DD) without getting myself in trouble.

You original question was

f I'm a minor at a party where almost everyone is drinking... but I'm not drinking because I'm a designated driver... and the police come to break up the party... can I get into any legal problems with being there even if I'm not drinking at all

The answer was and still is "YES".

[Ranger__101]

Sgtbear has some great points. It's too bad all young adults don't realize what can happen from one night of a few drinks or deciding to be the driver so their friends can get smashed at a party.