West Fargo Police: Teens faked a report of boy being beaten, force-fed vodka

WEST FARGO - Police here say a report Tuesday night that four people beat up a teenager and poured booze down his throat was false, but the teen was taken to the hospital with a blood-alcohol concentration 3½ times the legal limit for adults to drive.

Detective Greg Warren said police received a call about the teen, who is 14 or 15 years old, at about 9:30 p.m. from Sanford Medical Center. Warren said his blood-alcohol concentration was .28. The legal limit for driving is .08.

Three friends who had been hanging out with the teen initially told police he was attacked by "three blacks and a Bosnian," but they later admitted that one of them had taken booze from a house and they were drinking it near L.E. Berger Elementary, Warren said. A vodka bottle was recovered from the school grounds.

The group of friends became afraid because the teen was intoxicated and vomiting, so they called another friend with a car and gave him the assault story, Warren said. The friend with the car took the teen to the hospital, he said.

The teen had a scratch on his forehead, but police learned it was from when he fell on the sidewalk, Warren said.

Despite his high blood-alcohol concentration, the detective said, "He's going to be fine."

Police were investigating the matter when a major fire involving hazardous materials broke out in West Fargo's industrial park, requiring officers to provide traffic control.

Warren said investigators were still determining whether to charge any of the teens with making a false report.

"The kids are in deep doo-doo with their parents, so sometimes that's worse than what we can do," he said.