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Thread: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

  1. #1
    Potential Lunch Winner Dom Heffner's Avatar
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    Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...WS01/704210390

    OXFORD - Beth Speidel, 19, was drunk when a freight train struck and killed her.

    Now five of her friends - all female, all too young to drink alcohol legally - are accused of helping the Miami University sophomore get drunk.

    In a rare situation, police Friday filed misdemeanor charges against those five Miami students - the first time in his 29-year career that Oxford Police Sgt. Jim Squance can recall people being charged with supplying alcohol in an alcohol-related death.


    "It's unusual for us, because we don't have that many people that die related to alcohol," he said.

    Another factor: Investigators often can't track down the alcohol's source, Squance said.

    But in this case, he said evidence points to five of Speidel's friends. Two 20-year-olds, Danielle Davis and Kristina K. Sicker, and two 19-year-olds, Christine A. Carr and Kathleen A. Byrne, are charged with permitting underage consumption at private residences. In addition, 20-year-old Maureen E. Grady is accused of buying alcohol for Speidel at an undisclosed tavern in Oxford's Uptown area.

    All five were released on their promise to appear for hearings in Butler County Area I Court, set for May 3. If convicted, they could each get as much as six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

    Neither Speidel's parents nor the charged students were able to be reached Friday.

    Squance said the situation is especially sad because Speidel's friends are facing criminal accusations while grieving her death.

    "We're very sensitive to the victim and the victim's family and friends," he said. "We know that emotions are running very high now, but we have an obligation and a duty to issue citations if we feel there's been a violation of the law - and that's exactly what we did."

    Being a college town, Oxford has its share of alcohol-related offenses, but generally has avoided tragic results, Squance said.

    "Over the past couple of years, we've kind of dodged the bullet. We've seen a number of cases that could have ended in tragedy. But they didn't, because someone took some type of action to alleviate a disaster," he said.

    The case provides a dramatic local example of the nationwide issue of alcohol abuse among college students.

    "We're wasting the best and the brightest," Squance said, citing a Columbia University study that says young adults are drinking more frequently.

    "This young person had too much to drink," Squance said. "She wandered away, and I don't know if we ever will know what happened on that train track."

    Speidel was hit and killed about 1:15 a.m. last Saturday by a southbound CSX freight train traveling 35 mph, according to police reports. The train was traveling through a well-marked crossing about a mile from her dorm room.

    Her body lay undiscovered until another train traveled the same track two hours later.

    Speidel, a speech pathology major, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, the Butler County Coroner's Office said.

    "People, when they drink too much, tend to make bad decisions - and those decisions tend to be life-altering," Squance said.

    Squance said Miami University already has programs aimed at educating students about the dangers of drinking. The police department also works with tavern owners to educate bartenders about avoiding serving to underage people.
    Am I the only on that thinks this is a waste of time and money?

    are accused of helping the Miami University sophomore get drunk.
    How does one "help" someone get drunk? If this is what they call a crime, I should be on death row. I probably "helped" thousands in high school and college.

    the first time in his 29-year career that Oxford Police Sgt. Jim Squance can recall people being charged with supplying alcohol in an alcohol-related death.
    Sounds like Sgt. Jim should have followed his own precedent.

    In addition, 20-year-old Maureen E. Grady is accused of buying alcohol for Speidel at an undisclosed tavern in Oxford's Uptown area.
    So I'm thinking maybe the tavern has some responsibility in this, but no mention of them being in trouble for serving alcohol to an underage person.

    But wait it gets better:

    The police department also works with tavern owners to educate bartenders about avoiding serving to underage people.
    So even after getting training from the police department and not following this training, they serve alcohol to a minor, and it's not only the minor's fault that purchased the beer, but it's also her other friends' fault. This is a comedy, right?

    "People, when they drink too much, tend to make bad decisions - and those decisions tend to be life-altering," Squance said.
    This may be so, but it sounds like people make pretty stupid decisions while sober, like filing misdmeanor charges against people to try and lay some blame on a death that was clearly the victim's fault.

    To read this it sounds like Beth Speidel was just hanging out at her friend's house and they forced open her mouth and made her get so drunk that she wandered onto a set of train tracks.


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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    I agree with all of your points. Sounds to me like a typical Friday night on a college campus that went wrong because the girl wandered off. I'd done the same thing many times while I was a student though obviously with different results. This is just a case of something very unfortunate happening to a group of girls who have done nothing that most other college students haven't done. I think it's punishment enough that the girls lost one of their best friends in the ordeal. They do not need to be treated as if they are criminals.


    Btw, Dom, can you believe it's been over 2 years since Mitch passed?

  4. #3
    Potential Lunch Winner Dom Heffner's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    Btw, Dom, can you believe it's been over 2 years since Mitch passed?
    I can't at all. My friends and I try to come up with our own Mitch jokes all the time to try and keep the memory alive. I came up with this one yesterday (You have to read it in Mitch's cadence):

    I was pretty serious when I was a kid. If somebody came up to me and stole my nose, I called the police on them.

    (Holds phone to ear): Hello, I would like to report a robbery. Somebody stole my nose. I saw who did it, it was my uncle. It was between his middle and index fingers. This is the fourth Christmas in a row I have called you people and you never do anything for me...

    Lame I know, but I'm still trying to fill the void.

  5. #4
    go edwin
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    um as a 19 yr old kid i can say that girl doesnt need help getting dru nk
    :ede:

  6. #5
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    Quote Originally Posted by Dom Heffner View Post
    I can't at all. My friends and I try to come up with our own Mitch jokes all the time to try and keep the memory alive.
    (in Mitch cadance): "I went to a club the other night and the bouncer told me, 'Hey man, we don't allow sneakers in here.' But I was unaware he was referring to my attire, so I said 'Its cool, I'm planning to pay.'"
    Cincinnati Reds: Farm System Champions 2022

  7. #6
    Member camisadelgolf's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    The death of a friend probably won't teach them any lessons, but I'm sure a citation will. Good job, Oxford police!

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    Member durl's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    By "permitting," are they saying that they encouraged this girl to keep drinking? If so, then the police have a point, don't they? The story doesn't say that ALL the girls were drinking to the point of getting drunk so it seems that there's the possibility that these girls were making an extra effort to really get this girl as drunk as possible. I could be guessing wrong, though.

    If it was just a bunch of girls agreeing to get plastered I'll back off a bit. The story seems a little incomplete right now.

  9. #8
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    Quote Originally Posted by Dom Heffner View Post
    How does one "help" someone get drunk? If this is what they call a crime, I should be on death row. I probably "helped" thousands in high school and college.

    From the headline and that statement, it appears that they were charged with that. But if you read the whole story, four of them were charged for permitting underage consumption at a private residence and the other was charged for with buying alcohol. If that's the law then that's the law. Now they don't have to enforce it but it appears they are in this case. It could be worse. The girls could be charged with contributing to the girl's death.
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

  10. #9
    Potential Lunch Winner Dom Heffner's Avatar
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    Re: Oxford Police Charge Friends With Getting Girl Drunk

    From the headline and that statement, it appears that they were charged with that. But if you read the whole story, four of them were charged for permitting underage consumption at a private residence and the other was charged for with buying alcohol.
    Chip, I agree that the charge doesn't match up with what the article is saying, but the law hadn't been used in over 20 years that the officer could recall, yet I'm sure there is a law that prohibits establishments from selling alcohol to minors, though nothing was mentioned about that.


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