One person was seriously injured early in the morning Jan. 8 after several underage drinkers fled a party in a Wyoming home, Wyoming police reported.
According to Director of Public Safety Paul Hoppe, two officers responded to a noise complaint around 12:30 a.m. at a home in the 4500 block of East Viking Boulevard. When they arrived, he said, the officers found that a party with roughly 150 people in attendance was being thrown at the home, and many of the people imbibing alcohol at the party appeared to be below the legal drinking limit. The officers began organizing people into groups depending on whether they were above or below the drinking limit, but their priorities began to change as people began to flee into the freezing temperature – including one man, later identified as Travis Vanelsberg, 20, of North Branch, who allegedly barricaded himself in an second-story room before diving headfirst out of the room’s closed window, injuring himself in the process.
Vanelsberg reportedly made it home safely before he was arrested for underage consumption. Hoppe said that at least a dozen other people, however, tried to escape the house and were left wandering in the woods of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area. Police called for backup from other local law enforcement agencies, and with their assistance (and the assistance of a helicopter floodlight from one of the agencies), they managed to find all of the people who had gone outside without proper winter protection.
No one was seriously injured by the elements except for one 20-year-old man who police found unconscious in the woods. Police believed the man had been outside without proper winter protection for about an hour; he was transported to Regions Hospital in St. Paul to be treated for frostbite and hypothermia. Hoppe said the several hours of determined searching by the Wyoming officers and other law enforcement agents likely averted a more serious or wide-ranging tragedy.
“We’re proud of our officers for diligently sticking with it,” he said.
Hoppe said police are currently investigating the case and may end up seeking charges for a social host violation. Homeowners can be held responsible for underage drinking in their homes while they are not present.
“It could have been very tragic, and I think it’s important that the homeowners understand the liabilities that could happen when they open their homes to minor consumption,” Hoppe said.
