After drinking with friends all night, Paul Sutton drove his friend home. Before he could buy gas for his car, Sutton realized the police had surrounded him.

“After I dropped my friend off at home, I realized that I had no gas in my car. I got off of the freeway and before I could even reach the gas station, my car stopped. I had to push my car around the curve by myself. After I had paid for gas and was walking back to my car, I saw a cop approach me and ask me all kinds of questions. Before I knew it, the police had surrounded me,” Sutton, automotive technology major, said.

They started administering sobriety tests. He passed all of them until he was given the breathalyzer test, Sutton said.

“I was shocked I was caught. I’ve been pulled over before, but they never kept me overnight. I was scared,” he said.

Authorities put Sutton in jail for the night.

When he was let out in the morning, however, he was presented with a Driving Under the Influence ticket.

When Sutton appeared in front of the judge, who gave him the option of contesting the ticket, he was also informed that he would still have to pay the $1,500 fine and be on probation for three years.

Also, since he was under the age of 21 at the time of the incident, his driver’s license was suspended for a whole year, Sutton said.

Sergio Bautista, 20, film major, was also issued a ticket, but for underage drinking, after leaving a party.

“First, I couldn’t believe that I was stupid enough to get caught for being intoxicated in public, especially with a drink in my hand. My heart was pumping and it seemed as if the situation made me sober up quickly,” Baustista said.

Bautista also admits to driving under the influence of alcohol, although he has never been caught.

“I was lucky enough to get home safely. Looking back, I could’ve not only severely injured myself, but others as well,” he said.

“Not only that, but I could have been fined a lot of money and could have made the situation worse than it should have been,” Bautista said.

Bautista’s incidents have allowed him to recognize the importance of following alcohol consumption regulations, he said.

“It was definitely a learning experience. I do not plan on doing it again, nor will I feel pressured by my peers,” Bautista said.

Alcohol is a legal drug in the United States and collegiate students often abuse it.

This is because the majority of them do not know how to be social without consuming alcohol, health professor Charleen Zartman said.

According to a recent Union survey taken from 100 EC students, 75 percent of them drink twice a month, have more than three drinks and find themselves getting rides from people who have not been drinking.

Students were also asked if the drinking age should be lowered to age 18, and 99 percent of them disagreed.

They said they thought that people under the age of 21 do not have enough willpower to make the right decisions when under the influence.

Gloria Colindres, 21, administration of justice major, said she takes precautions when she goes out drinking with friends.

“I drink before I hit the club and stop drinking once I get there and dance the drunkeness off,” Colindres said.

A pamphlet produced by Mothers Against Drunken Driving (MADD), courtesy of Sgt. Kirk Johnston, states that 35 percent of all fatal crashes caused by underage drivers involve alcohol.

“They don’t realize that they have had too many drinks and they start operating vehicles. It gets them into major trouble if they are pulled over at a sobriety check point, even if they did not have much to drink,” Johnston said.