Students hospitalized after mixing alcohol, homecoming dances and 'party buses'

Students from both sides of Tampa Bay were sent to hospitals over the weekend after separate incidents involving alcohol, homecoming dances and "party buses."

In St. Petersburg, an 18-year-old senior at the private Shore- crest Preparatory School spent more than 14 hours in intensive care after collapsing at the St. Petersburg Country Club on Saturday night. Chaperones found evidence of alcohol consumption on the bus that the student and 30 peers rode to the dance.

Meanwhile, in Plant City, school officials asked 28 students, including the homecoming queen, to leave the Durant High School dance after they arrived on a party bus. School officials believed some had been drinking. An ambulance was called for one of them, a 17-year-old, before she even stepped inside.

Both students were home Monday recovering.

In an address to students, Shorecrest headmaster Michael Murphy said he was "sad to see a classmate in the condition he was in, and sad that they do so many good things and this kind of event discolors that."

Around the country, party buses and drunken kids have become a perfect combo for negative headlines.

In June, police allegedly found 35 New Jersey students drunk on a party bus after a prom trip to New York. In March, police investigated 28 Texas students who were stumbling after getting off a party bus at their prom.

In both Tampa Bay cases, the schools did not rent the buses, but it's not clear who did.

It's also unclear which of the dozen or so bus companies around Tampa Bay were hired, and whether the bus drivers knew or suspected some of their passengers may have been consuming alcohol.

Some party bus operators say they're aggressive about supervising teenagers, but teens sneak alcohol in plastic bottles or sandwich bags, or slip it down their trousers.

"I've been doing this 13 years and I see it all the time," said Donna Cooper, owner of Party Bus Extreme in Seminole.

Carlina Ramirez, the mother of the Shorecrest student who was hospitalized, said that about 8 p.m. Saturday, she drove her son to a home on 31st Avenue near 4th Street, where about 35 students boarded a large, luxury party bus. She said only parents of kids younger than 18 were asked to sign waivers.

At the dance, he began vomiting and passed out. Ramirez said she was later told that he had been drinking vodka out of what looked like a water bottle.

The student was taken to Bayfront Medical Center. The parents of the other students were called to come pick them up.

Chaperones found beer cans and an empty bottle of vodka on the party bus. An investigation is under way to determine how many students violated school policy, and what penalties they will face.

In Plant City, the parents of 28 students were called and asked to pick up their children from the dance at the branch campus of Hillsborough Community College.

School administrators at the dance weren't equipped to determine who had or had not been drinking, so everyone on the bus was asked to leave, said Hillsborough County public schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe.

The district has a "zero tolerance" policy for those who drink alcohol or come to school-related functions under the influence, Cobbe said. Policy requires a mandatory parent conference and a three- to 10-day suspension.

It was not clear Monday how many of the 28 students face suspension.

Michael Holcombe told the St. Petersburg Times Monday that his daughter, who is a senior, got sick at the Durant dance, though he declined to say if she was the student taken to the hospital.

Still, he said that contrary to rumors at school, "she's not in a coma yet. But she might be when I'm done kicking her a--."

In both Tampa Bay cases, it does not appear police were called.

According to the Pinellas County's emergency communications center, a 911 call at 10:01 p.m. indicated a student was "down" at the St. Petersburg Country Club, but did not mention alcohol or anything suspicious.

"Our main focus was patient care and quickly getting him to the hospital," said Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Joel Granata. "We don't typically call the police unless we need them. The (paramedics) had their hands full with this particular patient."

Ramirez, the student's mother, said her son has a condition that gives him a very low tolerance for alcohol — and that even a small amount is enough to permanently damage his organs.

She didn't blame the bus company or the school for what happened.

"He is 18 and he knows what to do and what not to do," she said. "Supposedly he is so smart that he shouldn't be acting this way. But sometimes intelligence and reason fight each other."

Times staff writers Mary Jane Park, Jamal Thalji and Emily Nipps, researchers John Martin and Carolyn Edds and TBtwo correspondent Kelly Price contributed.