Is Your Stoop Private Property?
Maybe not, based on this tale of post-DNC speech imbibing on a Park Slope stoop that resulted in a $25 ticket. Here’s the tale from Park Slope Parents: My husband was IMing and having a beer last night on our stoop after Biden’s speech…NYPD roll up in a patrol car and busted him for an…
Maybe not, based on this tale of post-DNC speech imbibing on a Park Slope stoop that resulted in a $25 ticket. Here’s the tale from Park Slope Parents:
My husband was IMing and having a beer last night on our stoop after Biden’s speech…NYPD roll up in a patrol car and busted him for an open container violation for 25 bucks…he was very polite and told the NYPD he was appreciative of their presence, but asked asked about the public/private space concept, and he explained that if I was behind a fence or gate I would be ok. Since we don’t have a gate, the set-back from the sidewalk didn’t matter.
I was reading a bit about this online today…there is some opinion that the officer needs to report the actual brand of the alcohol being consumed or it won’t hold up in court. The cop actually asked him “What kind of beer are you drinking?” which I thought was odd at the time, but he didn’t write the brand on the ticket. Anyhow, the cops were polite and my husband was polite and overall just a goofy story…we’ll probably just write the check for $25 and mail it in rather than burning up a bunch of time contesting the thing.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Park Slope Row. Photo by senatorpeter6.
If a cop approached me on my stoop because I was drinking a beer, I’d probably scream, throw the bottle as far as I could, then collapse on my steps and start bawling.
Would the cop still write the ticket?
altervoce, that’s a great solution. Fortunately, I don’t have an issue with this – once in a while people will rest or hang out for a bit on my stoop, but it’s not often and doesn’t bother me. They usually get up to go when they see me approaching the steps but I always tell them they don’t have to leave.
Thank goodness I have a fence and a gate, and most of my neighbors do as well! Does it matter if the gate is open?
Hmmm…I think we just solved the missing gates crime. It’s a marauding group of stoop drinkers!
I had a neighbor in Williamsburg who frequently had people sit on her front step, which was really more of a loading dock than a stoop, but whatever. If she wanted people to move she would fill a bucket with water, go out front and ask the person to stand, drench the landing and go back inside. Most people shuffled off; eventually it stopped.
ugh. my neighbors and i often take out a bottle of wine and share it (and conversation) on the stoop. I never considered it was illegal.
Bed Stuy Bully, no, I prefer not to drink beer from a bag (or wine from a box). Anyway, drinking something wrapped in a brown paper bag is often an indication that one isn’t consuming a YooHoo. As for the wine, I used a glass. It’s usually only after 8 or 9 carafes that I start drinking directly from the bottle 🙂
This happened to me once but boy was I lucky I was drinking a 1962 Château Lafite Rothschild.
The cops just kept walking.
a couple of points. NY law prohibits drinking in Public so the area in front of your house unless fenced off is considered in public. The ticket doesn’t have to have the type of beer but when the PO asked you they would write it down in their log book so when you go to court they open and say “Reingold” or whatever-its an issue of proof not of the offense charged with.(his statement is proof)..
as to the kids on your stoop technically most of the first steps are on public property after that its yours. Trespassing occurs when someone remains in open property after being told to leave or if its posted or fenced in(yes I know that is no longer open property) so if you put a sign that says no trespassing you don’t have to tell them to leave and they can be arrested for sitting there without further notice. If you don’t want to post and tell them to leave and they don’t there are trespassing. Most PO’s I know will require you to tell them to leave again in the PO’s presence(its because simple trespass is a violation that has to occur in the officers presence.