Eugene police made headlines in early February when they made the rare move of citing the entire University chapter of the Theta Chi fraternity, not just its members, for violations of the law.
On Saturday, police did it again, and to the same organization.
The Eugene Police Department’s Party Patrol cited Theta Chi around 1:45 a.m. for a misdemeanor noise violation and handed out seven minor in possession of alcohol citations after officers responded to a complaint of noise at the house, at 1125 E. 19th Ave., EPD officer Chris White said.
Officers forced their way past the fraternity president and through the front door after they peered through a window and saw a passed-out drunk woman puking on herself and another woman trying, and failing, to wake her, White said.
Officers later managed to wake the woman, who didn’t need a hospital visit, White said.
On Feb. 2, White cited the entire fraternity for furnishing alcohol to two underage women during a December party, sending both students to the hospital and one to intensive care for several days, EPD spokeswoman Pam Olshanski previously told the Emerald. White handed the citation to then-chapter President Robbie McEachern.
Olshanski previously said it was the first time she could remember that police cited an entire entity instead of its individual members.
White told the Emerald on Saturday he could hear music a block away from the house.
Current Theta Chi President and Interfraternity Council Vice President of Scholarship Bryan Caplan comment.
White said when officers arrived they knocked, and people looked out but refused to open the door. Officers in front looked through the window and saw the woman passed out, with a puked-in mop bucket next to her, White said. White said he saw a woman crawl to window to shut the curtains, trying to remain undetected.
When Caplan answered the door, police entered to check on the woman, despite his protests, White said.
The fraternity’s case will be handled in Eugene Municipal Court.
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