ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — More than a dozen students were detained at the University of Central Florida on Saturday afternoon for violating state drinking laws, according to a state agent on scene.
The round up was part of a statewide crack down on tailgaters at football season openers. Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agents checked college campuses to make sure students abided by the age limit and other drinking laws. Underage drinkers face the potential of spending 60 days in jail.
A WFTV crew at UCF witnessed a student being detained for failing to possess a license.
"She doesn't have her ID on her. They can't look her up. So I don't want to talk about it," said the student's friend, who refused to give her name.
Another female student was led away by state agents for underage drinking just moments later.
"They're illegally searching. People say no to a closed container. They don't have - probably cause? Yes. They're stumbling. She's not stumbling," said the young woman's friend, Joshua Falzone.
Grant Heston, a UCF spokesman, said 155 officers and deputies from UCF, Orange County, Seminole County and the Oviedo Police Department were on hand before kick-off. The UCF Knights played the Coyotes of South Dakota. Roughly 40,000 fans were expected to pack Bright House Networks Stadium.
Students were allowed to drink freely on campus between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. because an open policy waiver was in effect. However, at 6:00 p.m., when the game started, the policy ended and all drinking was to cease, Heston said.
"You want to prevent and you want to enforce. So we've put a lot of time and effort into prevention," said Heston.
UCF and Orange County recently formed a joint task force aimed at combating drinking at UCF, Heston said.
WFTV
