BUCHER TAKES HARD LINE ON TEEN PARTIES

Latest Bash Has Waukesha DA Wanting
Police To Enter By Force To Halt Drinking

Angered by another incident in which teenagers suspected of drinking
would not allow police to enter a home, Waukesha County District
Attorney Paul Bucher on Wednesday said he would give officers the
green light to knock down doors if necessary to break up such parties.

"If their whole intent was to catch our attention, they've got it.
This sophomoric conduct - we're taking steps to end it," Bucher said.
"We're not going to have officers sitting on lawns putting themselves
at risk . . . or having parents busting down doors."

Bucher said he would distribute a memo to police departments that
would give them "adequate legal basis on which to enter" a house "by
force if necessary."

Believing they did not have the authority to use force, Hartland
police early Sunday stood outside and attempted to coax 10 to 12 teens
from a home where they had holed up. Police say the group was trying
to avoid arrest for underage drinking.

The incident hit close to home for Waukesha County Sheriff William
Kruziki, whose son was among those at the home. Kruziki, along with
Bucher, the past year has stepped up the fight against underage drinking.

Bucher said he believed the "check list" of reasons police could enter
a home where underage drinking was suspected would hold up if
challenged in court. He declined to release the list, saying it would
"thwart" law enforcement efforts.

But he said, for example, police could enter a home if they believed
someone who had been drinking needed medical assistance.

But Bucher's plan drew immediate criticism from attorney Ray
Dall'Osto, chairman of the Wisconsin Bar Association's Criminal Law
Section.

He said that police could not enter a home on a "hunch."

The Fourth Amendment guarantees a "constitutional right to privacy in
your home," he said. "The Supreme Court has said your home is your
castle."

If police enter a home on a "hunch" or "feeling," "you're going to
have some legal difficulty upholding that," Dall'Osto said.

"I don't think a judge would issue a search warrant based on that," he
said.

Peter Koneazny, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Wisconsin, said it was premature to take issue with Bucher's plans
to make it easier for police to enter homes. He added, however, that
the ACLU would review Bucher's memo carefully.

"Encouraging breaking down doors obviously raises concerns for some
Fourth Amendment violations," Koneazny said.

On Wednesday, 18-year-old Chris Borchardt, who hosted the party, was
suspended from the Arrowhead High School football team for five games.
Arrowhead officials said they are reviewing the matter and that other
students also could be disciplined.

As for Kruziki, he acknowledged his son, Matthew, was at Borchardt's
home but said he didn't believe he had been drinking. His son has not
been ticketed.

"They got together after the football game. That's all I know," the
sheriff said Wednesday. "He's an adult. He's 18. He can answer to it.
He's got to answer to anything and everything he does.

"In this particular case, all I will say is he didn't do anything
wrong. He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Hartland police on Wednesday continued their investigation into the
gathering in the 700 block of Renson Road.

Officers responded to a neighbor's complaints early Sunday, but the
teens holed up in the house and would not allow police entry. The
teens also ignored parents who were called to the scene and demanded
that their children exit.

So far, police have ticketed Chris Borchardt, 18, for allowing an
underage person to consume intoxicants at premises under his control.
And 17-year-old Krista Fancher of Hartland, who exited the home as
police were arriving, was ticketed for underage drinking.

Borchardt, the star running back at Arrowhead High School, denied he
had hosted a drinking party and said he would appeal the suspension
from football.

"The cops came and my friends came and got me from a room when they
thought the cops were kicking in the door," Borchardt said. "As soon
as I saw this, we closed the door again because if they were going to
act like that, why should we be cooperative with them?"

It was not the officers who broke the door, but an angry father who
thought his 17-year-old daughter was being held inside against her
will.

As it turned out, the man's daughter had been at the home earlier and
left with friends before he arrived.

The Journal Sentinel is not naming the man because he remains under
investigation in connection with the damage to the home.

Chris Borchardt's parents were out of state at a wedding when the
incident occurred and later filed a formal complaint with police over
the damage done by the man.

According to police:

About a dozen teenagers - 16 to 18 - holed up inside the house when
Hartland police arrived about 1:45 a.m. With some coaxing from
officers, one 17-year-old boy finally exited and told police who was
inside.

When police told the others they had been identified, several teens
began swearing loudly and making threats against the teen who had
left, police said.

"I'm going to kill (the boy) . . .," police heard as someone struck
the inside door.

When contacted at home Wednesday, the father of that boy declined to
discuss the incident.

"I'm handling this with my son at this time and that's about all I
want to comment about."

No one else left the home, and the officers and parents cleared out by
5 a.m.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Arrowhead Superintendent David Lodes said school
officials were continuing to investigate the incident.

Lodes said part of the problem is that police were not able to
identify the students in the home but had to rely on secondhand accounts.

"Whether there was a party or not, we don't know," Lodes said. "But
when you have parents and police outside trying to get in and you're
obstructing them . . . I don't think organizing something like that is
what we expect our athletes to be doing."

Lodes said the students must have had "something to hide," otherwise
they would have let parents and police into the house.