Brooklyn Man Says Cops Gave Him Public Drinking Summons On Private Property
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn Law School student is challenging the summons he received from the police after drinking on a friend's stoop the evening of July 4th.
Andrew Rausa and friends were drinking beers on the stoop of a Brooklyn brownstone when an unmarked police vehicle pulled up in front of the building, 1010 Wins' Al Jones reported.
Two cops then issued summonses to those present, citing apparent public drinking.
Rausa, however, claims that he and his friends did not break the law.
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Rausa says the stoop in question is private property-- a wrought iron gate separates the public street from the brownstone's private front steps.
"We were just absolutely astonished. We were really surprised at that point" Rausa said. "The police officers went back to their unmarked car and I immediately pulled out my iPhone and I searched the New York City administrative code, and when I saw that, it just dawned on me that we were clearly not in violation of this law."
The summons required payment of a $25 dollar fine. But Rausa and his friends will fight the charge in court.
"We are all professionals, so we are concerned about this going on our record, so we're going to fight this," Rausa said.
"Our hope right now at this point is that we bring this to court, we get a court date with a judge, the Judge sees that this law is ambiguous and he sees that we weren't in violation of the law, and not only does he exonerate us from the summonses, but he also gets a little clarity on this law."
