Editors note: In the following story, we have withheld the student’s name in order to protect his privacy.

After a night of partying, alcohol and drugs, a Blue Valley student came face to face with every teenager’s worst nightmare — getting caught by the cops.
On Aug. 17, a student’s night was cut short when the party he had attended was over sooner than everyone expected.
“I was drinking at a friend’s house,” the student said. “I was smoking weed. I did a couple bowls, and I was really drunk.”
With a dwindling supply of alcohol, he had a friend use his fake ID to go get more. By the time his friend got back, the party had already ended.
“When he got back, I took him home and went to McDonald’s,” he said.
The student left McDonald’s, not fully aware the handle of alcohol was in his backseat, and continued to drive home worry-free.
“I forgot to turn on my lights, and there was a cop right there,” he said.
The cop turned on his sirens after seeing the student’s headlights were off and pulled him over.
“At first, I thought I was just going to get a ticket,” he said. “I didn’t know the handle was in the backseat, but he saw it.”
After seeing the half gallon of vodka, the officer demanded the student perform multiple sobriety tests. He first had to count back from 99 to 77, then recite the alphabet from the letter ‘C’ to ‘Q’ and, lastly, he had to follow a pen with his eyes for what he said felt like at least two minutes.
“I passed all the tests,” he said. “[The officer] said, ‘I’m going to make you blow [a breathalyzer], but no matter what, you’re not going to get a [Driving Under the Influence] because you seem functional.’”
After blowing a .147, almost twice the legal limit for an adult, he said he realized how much trouble he was actually in. The officer ended up charging him with a Minor in Possession (MIP).
“I was very disappointed in myself,” he said. “I didn’t think I would get caught.”
The student said the cop feared he would run, so he cuffed him and put him in the back of his cop car.
“I called my mom, like, 100 times, and she didn’t answer,” he said. “So, he was like, ‘Alright, I have to take you to the juvenile institution for you to go somewhere to stay tonight.’”
However, his mom called back just a few minutes before he arrived at the facility.
“I was in the back of the cop car, handcuffed when [the cop] was talking to her,” he said. “He was just telling her that I had an unopened handle, a tobacco hookah, I was driving without my lights and that I blew a .147.”
After his parents found out what happened, he said they were very upset and felt let down by their son’s actions.
“They were very disappointed because my brother [has been on] probation, and I told them I would never turn out like him,” he said. “But then this happened.”
In order to teach their son a lesson, the student said his parents are enforcing a strict punishment.
“I’m grounded for probably a month or more, and I will have a 10 o’clock curfew for, like, six months,” he said.
The student said although the charges were unsatisfactory, he thinks they are fair considering the circumstances and what the charge could have been.
“I was guilty,” he said. “It was a good time, until I got in trouble.”
Other BV students witnessed the incident from QuikTrip, and they all took to social media to inform their peers about what was happening.
“Everyone knew about it by the end of the night,” he said.
The student said this experience has taught him a lot, and he encourages any other students who have been drinking to put down the keys and get a ride from someone else.
“Do not drink and drive,” he said. “Do not drink in general. If you think you won’t get caught, you probably will.”

By the Numbers: Information from toosmarttostart.com and stopteenDUI.com.

• 5,000 people under the age of 21 die of alcohol-related injuries annually
• 38% of deaths from car crashes involve intoxicated drivers under 21
• 45% of alcohol-related deaths involve motor vehicle accidents
• 17,602 people killed in 2004 from alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents
• 1.4 million drivers arrested for DUI’s in 2004

Sobriety Tests: Information from Litchney Law Firm, PC.

• 1. Suspect must follow an object with their eyes so the officer can determine the eye movement reactions associated with being drunk.
• 2. Suspect walks along a straight line, heel to toe, then must spin and walk back to where they started.
• 3. Suspect raises one foot in the air, balancing all weight on the other foot.
• 4. Suspect puts feet together and closes their eyes, with their head back, and officer sees if they can maintain balance.
• 5. Suspect closes eyes and touches the tip of their nose with index finger.
• 6. Suspect must recite all or part of the alphabet. (You don’t have to recite the alphabet backwards — that’s a myth!)
• 7. Suspect must count backwards starting at a random number.
• 8. Breathalyzer.

Minor In Posession (MIP): A law concerning alcohol and drugs found in the possession of someone under 21. The substance does not have to be opened or used for a minor to be charged. MIP’s can be argued in court and taken off the minor’s record.

Driving Under the Influence (DUI): This is when a driver has been using alcohol or prescription, non-perscription or illegal drugs.

Definitions from MADD.org.