The Binghamton Police Department raided several bars on State Street last Friday night at around 12:45 a.m.
The Rathskeller Pub was one of the first bars raided, giving other bars a chance to check and remove underage people from the premises.
“We saw the paddy wagon [police vehicle] across from The Rat,” said a bartender at Scoreboard, who was interviewed but requested to remain anonymous. “After that, we started randomly IDing people within the bar.”
He said there were not many people removed from the bar because of the tight security at the door, but many left on their own after word of the raid spread.
“Very few underage people get in here without a picture-perfect ID,” the bartender said. “We have ID scanners. If it doesn’t scan, they’re not allowed in.”
Scoreboard bouncers said they plan to be stricter with admitting people into the bar.
“We’re not going to be taking anything that says ‘Under 21’ from now on either,” he said.
The bartender said that when raids occur, students, rather than those who run the bar, usually take the heat.
“If you’re under 21 and want to be in a bar, it’s at your own risk,” he said. “If they have a valid ID that looks like them, we have to serve them.”
However, Rathskeller owner Christine Pasquale was ticketed for selling alcohol to a minor and is facing charges because of the underage people found in her bar during the police raid.
Several students were arrested, handcuffed and brought to the police station in the “paddy wagon” on the night of the raid.
A Binghamton University student who requested to remain anonymous was one of the first arrested at The Rat last week. The student spoke to Pipe Dream about her experience on Friday night.
Dancing with a drink in hand, the student felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to find a police officer. The student, who claimed she was sober, was brought outside for questioning, and after admitting she was underage, the officers brought her to the police station.
The student described the whole process as time-consuming.
“They kept us in the van for 45 minutes or an hour and kept adding people in,” she said. “Everyone was from different bars. They squished us in there like sardines. They fit as many people as they could in the van.”
According to the student, the officer told them that they were headed toward correction facility in Syracuse, but only drove the van, which did not have any windows, around briefly before stopping at the Binghamton police station. At the police station, the girls, about five in total, were kept in a cell while the boys were handcuffed to a bar to wait.
Students were allowed to leave after their information was collected, which totaled around four hours. They left with appearance tickets.
While some students were in tears, according to the anonymous student, most said they were frustrated.
“It’s ridiculous that students are getting in trouble for things that’s the responsibility of the bar,” she said. “Who they tapped in the bar was completely random. There were people with drinks in their hands that they didn’t go near. There was no organization, it all happened so fast.”
Matthew Sackett, a senior majoring in management, was present at The Rat last Friday. He said the cops started coming down the steps of the bar suddenly and everyone stopped what they were doing and ran out. Of legal age, he stood with his drink observing the madness.
“The bouncers didn’t seem too concerned,” he said. “As I was leaving I heard one say ‘here comes the mass exodus.’”
Assistant Chief David Eggleston of the Binghamton Police Department did not respond to calls for comment by press time.