University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student Adam Bauer has nearly 400 friends on Facebook. He got an offer for a new one about a month ago. “She was a good-looking girl. I usually don’t accept friends I don’t know, but I randomly accepted this one for some reason,” the 19-year-old said.
He thinks that led to his invitation to come down to the La Crosse police station, where an officer laid out photos from Facebook of Bauer holding a beer — and then ticketed him for underage drinking.
The police report said Bauer admitted drinking, which he denies. But he did plead no contest in municipal court Wednesday and will pay a $227 fine.
He was among at least eight people who said Wednesday they had been cited for underage drinking based on photos on social networking sites.
Christ.
I just love when police action is about money, not justice. The underaged should be smarter, but this still irks me.
They are fools for pleading no contest (essentially a guilty plea). Do you know how hard it is to prove that there was alcohol in the container that they were drinking from. I don’t care if the photo showed a bottle of beer with the Natty Light label facing the camera. A good lawyer could point out that there is no proof of what is in the bottle. (Whenever I had open container cases, the officers would always have to testify about the smell of alcohol and the color and consistency of the drink). It is harder than it seems.
