(a) A police officer of the city who arrests or issues a citation to a person for public intoxication, or for any other alcohol-related Class C misdemeanor or city ordinance violation, shall seize any alcoholic beverage in the possession of the person at the time of the arrest or citation.
(b) Except as provided in Subsection (c), and unless specifically provided otherwise by another applicable city ordinance or state or federal law, containers of alcoholic beverages seized under Subsection (a) must be disposed of as follows:
(1) If the person arrested or cited is under 21 years of age, each container, whether opened or unopened, must be discarded in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the chief of police.
(2) If the person arrested or cited is 21 years of age or older:
(A) any open container must be discarded in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the chief of police; and
(B) any unopened container will be:
(i) released, with the consent of the person taken into custody, to a third party who is 21 years of age or older; or
(ii) stored by the police department pending the release of the person in custody.
(c) If 24 or more unopened containers of alcoholic beverages are seized from a person under Subsection (a), each unopened container will be stored by the police department pending a hearing to be held by the municipal court following the disposition of the charge for which the person was arrested or cited. At the hearing, the municipal court may order:
(1) the return of the containers of alcoholic beverages to the person from whom they were seized, if the person is 21 years of age or older;
(2) the destruction of the alcoholic beverages by the police department in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the chief of police; or
(3) such other disposition as the municipal court deems necessary. (Ord. Nos. 15868; 21735; 22619)