Indiana University’s annual Little 500 resulted in a record number of arrests in Bloomington, Ind., this weekend.
Indiana State Excise Police officers arrested 235 people on 285 charges, up 29 tickets from last year.
Excise officers issued 167 tickets in 2011, 158 in 2010 and 157 in 2009.
According to an excise police news release, the number of tickets issued this year were an all-time high.
Tickets were mainly issued for alcohol offenses, including illegal possession or consumption of alcohol.
Arrests were also made for possession of ecstasy, operating while intoxicated, theft, criminal conversion, criminal trespass, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, resisting law enforcement, false informing, indecent exposure, furnishing alcohol to a minor, open container violations and public intoxication.
Only one person was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital for having a blood alcohol content of .29 percent.
He apparently opened the door of an unmarked SUV stopped at a traffic light and got into the back seat, mistaking it for a taxi cab.
More than half of those cited were not IU students, but were from other colleges and universities across the state and country.
“Excise officers again focused their attention on Bloomington this weekend, when alcohol violations are historically high as a result of Indiana University’s Little 500,” Superintendent Matt Strittmatter said in a news release. “Their primary aim this weekend was to keep students, residents and visitors to Bloomington safe by enforcing Indiana law.”
The majority of those arrested appeared in Monroe Circuit Court on Sunday.
