(A) Unlawful possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person under 21 years of age to purchase, possess, consume or be under the influence of any alcoholic beverages within the Town of Middletown, except as permitted in R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-8-11.1(c).
(2) Any police officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person between 18 years of age to 20 years of age inclusive, has consumed any alcoholic beverage, to include the odor or presence of alcoholic beverages upon the breath of said person, shall be permitted to request the person to submit to a preliminary chemical breath analysis and/or submit such person to a standardized field sobriety test.
(3) The results of any preliminary chemical breath analysis or standardized field sobriety test shall be admissible and shall be used to determine whether the person has consumed alcohol internally or possessed any alcoholic beverage.
(4) Any person between 18 years of age and 20 years of age inclusive who refuses to submit to a preliminary chemical breath analysis and/or refuses to submit to a standardized field sobriety test as provided in this section, who appears to be under the influence of any alcoholic beverage by a detectable smell of alcohol combined with slurred speech, unsteady gait or bloodshot eyes, shall constitute prima facie evidence of having consumed alcohol internally and having possessed any alcoholic beverage, and shall be subject to the sanctions within this section.
(5) Parental notification. Any police officer, upon determination that a person is under the age of 21, and has allegedly consumed, possessed or purchased any alcoholic beverages, or had any bodily alcohol content in violation of this section shall notify the parent, guardian or custodian within 24 hours if reasonably ascertainable by the law enforcement agency.
(B) Social host offenses.
(1) As used in this section, PERMIT means to give permission for, or approval of, the possession or consumption of an alcoholic beverage by any form of conduct, that would cause a reasonable person to believe that permission or approval has been given.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any person who owns or exercises control over private real property, to permit another person under the age of 21 years of age who is not his/her child or minor ward to possess or consume alcoholic beverages on the property.
(3) The prohibitions of this section apply to only a person who is present and in control of the property at the time the possession or consumption occurs. If the owner or person in control of the property is not present, but it can be shown that the owner or person in control of the property had prior knowledge of use of the property by underage persons where alcohol would be consumed and permitted it to occur, the provisions of this section shall apply to such owner or person in control of the property. The prohibitions of this section do not apply to the owners of rental property or the agent of an owner of rental property, unless the possession or consumption occurs in the individual unit in which the owner or agent resides or unless possession or consumption occurs while the owner or agent is present on the property or unless it can be shown that the owner or agent had knowledge of and permitted the consumption of alcohol by an underage person to occur on the property.
('73 Code, § 16-2) (Ord. passed 6-5-61; Am. Ord. 2010-2, passed 3-1-10; Am. Ord. 2011-1, As Amended, passed 2-22-11) Penalty, see § 130.99
Cross-reference:
Alcohol licenses, see Chapter 111