YOUR AD HERE »

Park City police bust up exceptionally raucous party

Jay Hamburger THE PARK RECORD

The Park City Police Department busted a party during the early morning hours on Saturday, taking enforcement action of some sort against 20 people, in what the authorities described as an exceptionally raucous scene.

Phil Kirk, a police captain, said an officer patrolling Old Town saw the party occurring in a house on the 800 block of Lowell Avenue at 3:30 a.m. The police said approximately 100 people were inside the rented residence, on a deck in the back or on the road celebrating a birthday. Several vehicles were parked in locations where they impeded traffic, Kirk said. A group of people from the Salt Lake Valley rented the house for the night, he said.

An officer approached the people inside regarding the parked vehicles. Kirk said some of the party-goers ran from the scene toward their cars or into the neighborhood when the officer approached. The Police Department said in an online statement some of the people fled onto nearby roofs. Nine police officers, several Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper responded, the Police Department said.

Kirk said officers ran after the people who fled, eventually capturing five juveniles suspected to be intoxicated. An ambulance was summoned for a woman at the scene who appeared to be highly intoxicated, he said. She was taken to a hospital.

Another woman at the party told the police she was threatened by a man with a gun inside the house, Kirk said. The Police Department obtained a search warrant for the house as a result of the report of a gun. Kirk said the officers did not find a gun but discovered beer and substances suspected to be illegal drugs.

Kirk said the police arrested 11 adults, issued citations to three other adults and referred six underage people to juvenile court. The people are as old as 25 years old, he said.

"We might have saved some lives, including theirs, by taking the action we did," Kirk said.

On Friday, meanwhile, the Police Department responded to another large party unrelated to the one on Lowell Avenue. The police at 3 p.m. received a report involving a party on the 2100 block of Sunset Court, a small street in Park Meadows. The police were told there were lots of young people "running around in the street and drinking alcohol," Kirk said.

Officers referred 11 people to juvenile court on alcohol counts, Kirk said. They were released to their parents or guardians and they primarily live in the Park City area, he said. The Police Department said in an online statement beer was confiscated at the scene. The statement described the incident as a "juvenile alcohol party."

Parents or guardians were not present at either of the parties until they were called by the police, Kirk said.

The Police Department regularly responds to reports of parties in neighborhoods, but the size of the one on the 800 block of Lowell Avenue is unusual. It is also unusual for the department to take action against as many people in individual cases as they did in the two parties on Friday.

Park City


See more

Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.