Duluth is assessing whether its significant college population has a drinking culture after a young woman nearly froze to death after a night out with friends.
While this particular story does not have a DWI element, I thought it was still worth writing about. My work as a Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer requires me to stay abreast of important news stories pertaining to many aspects of the law and alcohol.
The 19-year-old woman is a freshman at UMD. She was out drinking with friends the night of Saturday, Dec. 7 and was dropped off at her house at the end of the night.
Authorities still aren’t sure what happened, but the woman was evidently locked out of her residence and could not catch neighbors’ attention. She was not properly dressed, and temperatures that night plummeted to almost 20 degrees below zero.
The next morning, the woman was spotted by a passerby, huddled on her porch. She has been taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where she is in critical condition. She may lose her hands and her feet due to her severe frostbite.
The case has prompted many people to criticize UMD’s rowdy reputation, and to urge young people to take better care of each other in situations like this, where a person’s safety might be imperiled. We should note that at 19, the young woman was not of legal drinking age.
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