3 Teens Hospitalized to Sober Up, Police Say

Three teenagers were hospitalized after police found them unconscious Tuesday morning in an apartment where a group of high school boys who had ditched school had been drinking, authorities said.

Two of the seven boys, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were taken to Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, another to Granada Hills Community Hospital. They were expected to be held “until they sobered up,” said Lt. Steven Dodson of the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department.

Police took the other four away in handcuffs, a neighbor said. All seven were students at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills.

Hospital officials told police the boys might have suffered from overdoses of alcohol, Dodson said. One of the hospitalized teens was 14, another was 15; the age of the third was unknown.

“According to the students, they say all they had was alcohol, Jose Cuervo to be exact,” Dodson said. “Nothing else was taken.”

A neighbor called Kennedy High to alert officials that noise was coming from the apartment, Dodson said. School officials notified police, who called paramedics.

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Kennedy Principal Jim Gwin said he did not know how often parties are held by students who ditch school.

“It’s a fact of life,” he said. “It happens at all schools fairly frequently. They are not always drinking.”

Gwin said the school’s attendance rate hovers around 94%.

The students involved face suspension, and those found to have been drinking will be referred to Impact, the district’s alcohol and drug abuse counseling program, Gwin said.

“Definitely, three of them will be involved in that,” he said.

In December, police arrested six suspects in Van Nuys after a girl passed out and was allegedly raped at a party attended by about 15 Birmingham High School students who had ditched school.

One of those arrested, a 14-year-old boy, pleaded guilty to accessory to rape. A Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner sentenced the boy to a maximum of three years in custody.

Thirteen Orange High School students involved in a similar party in December faced suspensions of up to five days under Orange Unified School District’s zero-tolerance policy. Three teenagers were hospitalized after police broke up the party, where alcoholic beverages were consumed.