Deputies seek alcohol source
1 girl taken to hospital, released to her mother after Jan. 30 party
Steamboat Springs — Deputies are investigating another reported incident of underage drinking after a 16-year-old girl was found unconscious in a car at a party held the night of Jan. 30.
Routt County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Ken Klinger said he thinks six to eight minors were drinking at the party in a house on Routt County Road 24. Between 40 and 50 teens, some young adults and a number of parents also were at the party, Klinger said.
At about 2 a.m. Jan. 31, Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue emergency responders were called to the party, where the girl was found unconscious, Klinger said. Medical crews took the girl to Yampa Valley Medical Center, where her blood alcohol level was measured at 0.284. Any alcohol consumption by a minor is illegal, and the girl’s blood alcohol content also was more than three times the legal limit adults could be arrested for driving under the influence, and more than five times the limit for driving while ability impaired.
After treatment, she was released that morning to her mother.
Klinger said no tickets were issued at the time of the party, but deputies are seeking the identities of who provided alcohol to the minors. Anyone with information is urged to call investigators Klinger or Mike Curzon at 870-5504.
People who provide alcohol to minors can be charged under Colorado law with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a Class 4 felony punishable by two to six years in jail and a mandatory parole of three years. It also carries a fine of $2,000 to $500,000.
The incident follows a party Jan. 10, also in the county, where an intoxicated 17-year-old girl fell 16 feet from a deck onto snow-covered concrete below. She remains in a Denver hospital, and investigators from the Sheriff’s Office arrested 25-year-old Ryan Atkinson on suspicion of supplying alcohol to seven people who were younger than 21.
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