Crime & Safety

Police Charge 4 Teens with Underage Drinking

They reportedly were drinking beer and lit a fire at Sandy Point Beach early Sunday morning.

Portsmouth Police charged four area teenagers with underage possession of alcohol after they were caught drinking around a fire on Sandy Point Beach early Sunday morning.

Police said an officer was on patrol near the beach on June 1 at around 12:15 a.m. when he saw a small fire about 50 yards down the shoreline. 

As he approached, the officer saw several people flee into the woods. At the fire, police said there were three chairs set up with a cold bottle of Bud Light Platinum in one of the cup holders and empty Bud Light cans on the ground.

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The officer, according to a police report, noted that he saw a car he knew to be driven by the juvenile parked near the entrance to the path to the beach. A short time later, as police continued to patrol the area, the officer who came upon the fire saw the same car with four people inside heading south on Glen Farm Road.

Police stopped the car and inside, they found a backpack containing 14 cans of Bud Light — the same beer found on the beach.  The juvenile driver and his thee occupants, identified as another Matthew J. Sewall and Ryan M. McVicker, both 18 and of Portsmouth, and another 17-year-old juvenile,  at first denied being at the beach, claiming instead that they were just “driving around,” police reported. But they soon admitted to being there once police collected the beer.

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The juvenile driver reportedly showed no signs of impairment and passed a field sobriety test. All four said the beer belonged to them, with one claiming an unnamed person bought it two weeks ago and he had been holding on to it. 

“I explained how absurd that sounded and [the juvenile] stated that he knew it ‘sounded dumb,’” the officer reported.

The car was towed from the scene and the juveniles were released to the custody of their parents.

All four were charged with underage possession of alcohol. The driver was also issued a traffic summons for having too many occupants in his vehicle.

Both Sewall and McVicker were released with Municipal Court summonses at around 3 a.m.


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