Tenants face fines for party in Amherst that drew 500 partygoers

Amherst Police  04-10-2023

Amherst Police 04-10-2023 STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Published: 09-30-2024 3:10 PM

AMHERST — More than 500 partygoers gathered in the back yard of a North Amherst home, with a DJ booth set up and underage people consuming alcohol on Friday night, led to police officers issuing $300 tickets to the five tenants for violating the town’s noise bylaw, according to police.

Officers responded to a Meadow Street location at 11:09 p.m., finding the loud party underway, with people jamming the road with vehicles and walking on the public way with open containers of alcohol.

In addition to the noise tickets to bring the party under control, police also issued open container violations to the residents.

The party was one of 193 response calls police dealt with over the weekend.

A South Prospect Street resident holding a loud party Friday at 10:28 p.m. was issued both a $300 noise ticket and a $300 nuisance house ticket.

Saturday at 1:25 a.m., officers responded to a reported fight with several people who suffered minor injuries on Kellogg Avenue. One combatant took off his T-shirt and sneakers before running from the location. He was not located.

Four of the injured people, though, were later found on Smith Street, while a woman told police she was shoved while trying to break up the fight, and lost the pizza she was holding.

With nice weather Saturday afternoon, police issued verbal warnings at 1:51 p.m., 2:14 p.m, and 4:32 p.m. to North Pleasant Street, Northampton Road and South Pleasant Street residents who were out in their yards playing loud music.

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Then, Saturday at 11:23 p.m., police responded to a registered party on Shumway Street. The tenants agreed to send guests home, as the party began getting out of hand as more people began arriving at the location.

Sunday at 12:55 a.m., police took a complaint of Northampton Road residents being loud while playing beer pong. The residents denied the complaint, saying they had been playing corn hole. They agreed to quiet down, but with another complaint about an hour later, they headed inside for the night.

A complaint of loud fraternity, with laughing, yelling and smashing sounds, was made Sunday at 1:52 a.m. The neighbor who called in the complaint said she was trying to get to sleep.