Are Adults 18+ actually arrested for underage drinking?

I had a good friend of mine arrested for underage drinking. We were both college students, and we were drinking a significant amount in a friend's room early in the evening. During the process of polishing off a bottle by his lonesome, my friend called his roommate, who was somewhat less worldly, and asked that the roommate check in on him later. My friend was certainly drunk, but wasn't belligerent or disruptive.

The roommate, in an ill advised action, called the RA of the dorm, who then called the local police. This led to my friend turning a corner in the dorm and seeing several uniformed officers patrolling the hallway, looking for him. We managed to hide him in the bathroom for close to an hour before we secreted him back down to his dorm room.

Unfortunately, before falling asleep, the friend again called his roommate, letting him know that he was safely in his bed. The roommate then told the RA, who told the police, who then knocked on the friend's door. He opened the door, was breathalyzed (.088 BAC) and then transported to jail, where he spent the evening.

Of course when we awoke, we had no idea that our friend had been arrested. I ended up calling the county jail and learning that he had already been released. He did not have his phone, so he had to walk the several miles back to campus. Good times.

/r/AskAnAmerican Thread