State police to ramp up presence for IUPatty's weekend
With IUPatty’s weekend quickly approaching, Pennsylvania State Police announced an increased presence of troopers and liquor control officers in Indiana
The three-day celebration is thrown by students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. This year’s festivities will take place from Friday through Sunday.
State police said there will be increased traffic and DUI enforcement and roving patrols.
“Throughout the weekend, troopers will be actively patrolling neighborhoods and highways in an effort to promptly investigate all observed and reported criminal activity and traffic violations that would negatively affect the quality of life in our community,” police said, including public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, scattering rubbish, obstructing highways and other public passages.
Some troopers will patrol on horseback.
IUPatty’s is not sanctioned by the university and has long been a sore spot among many in the community.
In 2023, 12 people were hurt when a second-story floor of an apartment building in White Township near but not on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania collapsed during a IUPatty’s party. Five people were treated at the scene, and seven others were taken by ambulance to the hospital.
A neighbor said he heard yelling outside that night and estimated a crowd of 50 to 100 people that year.
Other past incidents have included:
- IUPatty’s 2017: A man died and a woman was in critical condition following two shootings that police said were unrelated. Police arrested two suspects in the shootings, which occurred near the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus during IUPatty’s Day.
- IUPatty’s 2014: Hundreds of college-age partiers fueled by alcohol — estimated to be more than 400 — packed South Seventh Street, where revelers taunted police and got into brawls that were videotaped and later posted online. Officials said many of those who caused problems were not university students.
Indiana residents and visitors should call 911 to report suspicious activity, police said.
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
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