'April Reign' at Baldwin Wallace Keeps Berea Police Busy With Underage Drinking

Berea Police were busy the weekend of April 8 responding to calls from the Baldwin Wallace University area. 'April Reign' is an annual festival at Baldin Wallace which features picnics, sports competitions, concerts and – unofficially – drinking reports Cleveland.com.

"From past experience, we know that (April Reign) generates a lot of off-campus parties and a lot of issues," Berea police Lieutenant Joseph Hedinger tells Cleveland.com

Hedinger added that two additional police officers had been assigned to keep an eye on things on the Baldwin Wallace campus and off-campus parties.

Here are last weekend's underage drinking incidents as reported by Cleveland.com:

• A Great Falls, Mont. woman, 19, was cited for underage drinking at about 7 p.m. April 8, after she was taken by ambulance to a hospital for alcohol poisoning. Police tried questioning her as she was carried into the ambulance outside Baldwin Wallace's Saylor Hall on Beech Street, but she was incoherent, then passed out.
• An Avon Lake man, 19, was arrested at about 1:15 a.m. April 9 for operating a vehicle under the influence. Police saw the man's Jeep weaving on Bagley Road. The Jeep almost hit a curb on West Grand Street. Police found a flask of whiskey in the vehicle. A passenger, a 22-year-old Elyria man, was cited for having an open container of alcohol in the Jeep.
• A Columbia Station man, 20, was arrested at about 3 a.m. April 9 on Seminary Street. Someone called police after the man tried to enter a house. By the time police arrived, the man was wedged between the house and a pillar, apparently asleep. Officers tried to lead the man from the house, but he resisted, wrapping one arm around the pillar. Officers loosened the man's grip, wrestled him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs. The man later apologized to police, saying he had been holding onto the pillar "for dear life."
• A Marysville man, 20, was arrested at about 11 p.m. April 9 after police saw him walking in the middle of West Bagley Road near Lewis Road. The man ignored police commands to show his hands. Officers, one with drawn Taser, ran toward the man, and he finally put up his hands. The man, who smelled of alcohol, was ordered to the ground and placed in handcuffs.
• A Lancaster, N.Y. man, 18, and a North Olmsted woman, 20, were given a summons to appear in court for underage drinking at about 11:50 p.m. April 9 after police caught them walking with beer and vodka in the Baldwin Wallace recreation center parking lot off Beech Street.
• A Saegertown, Pa. man, 20, was cited at about 12:30 a.m. April 10 after he allegedly destroyed property inside a house. The man was at a party, possibly on Seminary Street, when it happened. Other partygoers threw the man out of the house due to his behavior. The man ended up outside the college recreation center on East Bagley Road. When police arrived, the man was bleeding from a deep cut on his hand. He admitted that he had been drinking, and was taken to Southwest General Health Center.
• A Copley man, 19, was arrested at about 12:30 a.m. April 10 after taking a swing at an officer. Police were called to Seminary Street about a wild party at a house. Officers ordered the homeowner to shut down the party and told everyone leaving to empty their cans and bottles or they would be cited for carrying open containers of alcohol. But the Elyria man refused to leave his beer behind. An officer tried to stop the man from leaving with the beer, which is when the man tried to hit the officer. The officer wrestled the man to the ground.
• An Olmsted Falls woman, 19, was given a summons for underage drinking on April 10. At about 1:30 a.m., her roommate at Baldwin Wallace's Carmel Hall on Grand Street called police and said the woman was possibly suffering from alcohol poisoning. When police arrived, the woman responded slowly to questions. A large bottle of vodka, about ¾-empty, was on a desk. She was taken to a hospital.
• A San Pedro, Calif. man, 20, was given a summons to appear in court for underage drinking. Police received a call at about 2 a.m. April 10 about the man, who was in Baldwin Wallace's Constitution Hall on Tressel Street. The man was upset about a family situation. A friend told police the man had consumed a Gatorade bottle filled with alcohol. The man was taken to Southwest General Health Center.
• A Berea woman, 19, was arrested at about 2 a.m. April 10 after police found her sitting on a curb drunk on East Bridge Street. She told police she had been drinking in her Barrett Road apartment, then at several Baldwin Wallace parties. She said she was lost and couldn't find her way home. Police advised her to call someone to pick her up, but she was unable to reach anyone.

No comment from Baldwin Wallace officials.