FROSTBURG, Maryland — It’s the last Saturday night before final exams at Frostburg State University and reporter Heather Wolford of The Cumberland (Maryland) Times-News rode along with city police officer Daniel Zarger as he patrols the Mountain City.

“Where have you been?” dispatcher Eric Phillips says to Wolford. “You’re missing everything.” 

Wolford had been told to wait until after midnight, but the night is in full swing when she arrives at the police station. 

At about 12:35 a.m., Zarger and Wolford are on their way to an underage drinking party on Bowery Street. Once at the residence, which is packed with college students, multiple police officers knock on front and back doors. 

No one answers.

“It’s your typical college party,” says Frostburg Police Sgt. Richard Grimm, also on the scene. “There’s several of them throughout the city right now.”

“(Students) not sending anybody out, they’re basically ignoring us right now,” Grimm adds. “What we’ll end up doing is clearing them out, getting them moving along cause they get in these houses, they pack in like sardines, and it’s a fire hazard.”

Grimm says the students are scared they’ll be in trouble with police if they come out of the residence. 

“They’re afraid we’re going to start carding people as they’re walking out,” Grimm says. “They don’t want underage drinking citations. We don’t have the manpower to do that.”

The Frostburg Police Department is understaffed and the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office works to fill the gap by putting more boots on the ground.

Frostburg Police Sgt. Irvin Buskirk makes contact with the tenant at the property and she agrees to break up the party. Later, she is issued an underage drinking citation.

Buskirk takes a minute to talk about his night.

“We’ve had a couple fight calls.” he says. “We had a big party at the swimming pool, got a party going on Linden Street, but no major problems.”

The next call Zarger receives is for a fight on Center Street.

When they arrive, a white man is standing in the middle of the road with his face covered in blood.

“I’m OK, sir,” he says to a sheriff’s deputy. “I just got popped in the face.” 

Frostburg State University police send an officer to the scene.

The injured man does not want to give the name of the individual that assaulted him.

“Two males assaulted each other coming from a party,” Zarger says. “Usually the groups of individuals are from different sports teams or different houses, like fraternities and stuff and they just get into a beef and then that’s the end of it.”

But that won’t be the end of it tonight.

Frostburg Police revisit the house at least three times throughout the the night for the same two white males inciting each other.

Apparently, at neighboring homes, the men continue to provoke each other, and the front window in one of the houses is knocked out.

“If (the man who was assaulted earlier in the night) didn’t see who broke the window, it’s gonna be hard (to arrest anyone),” Zarger says. “We have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this person specifically broke the window. If there’s multiple people in the yard, and if he didn’t see anybody break it, we’re kind of at a loss.”

At one point, Zanger and Wolford leave to search for a missing 15-year-old female, only to be called and return to the continued fighting on Center Street.

“We shift our focus a little bit whenever college isn’t in session,” says Zarger. “We have a lot more time to focus on other issues.”

The missing female juvenile is later found unharmed at her grandmother’s residence.

During the two hours that have elapsed, Wolford has witnessed an underage drinking party being broken up on Bowery Street, returned to a fight call on Center Street three times, searched for a missing juvenile and answered a burglar alarm at the Frostburg Elks.

No one has been arrested and we are now headed to break up another fight on Spring Street. 

After Safe Ride (a free university service that drives students home) calls university police to report a fight at the residence, the university police call Frostburg city police because this is the area the force covers.

Frostburg City Police and the sheriff’s office respond.

No one is in a fight when officers arrive. However, the house is packed with people. 

Frostburg police and sheriff”s deputies break up the party. Roughly 100 students file out of the house peacefully.

It’s about 2:45 a.m. and Zarger says it’s time to patrol the alleys.

The night is nearing an end, and police go deeper into the city to look for folks who might be too intoxicated to get home safely.

It’s about 3 a.m. when Zarger pulls up to a couple standing beside a stop sign.

Zarger gets out of his cruiser and notices them standing above a young white male who appears to be unconscious.

The two say they don’t know the man, found him there and were ready to look for help.

Zarger tells the couple they can leave, and calls for an ambulance. 

“I don’t think he was coming from a bar,” says Zarger. “He didn’t have an ID on him, no wallet, no cash – I imagine he probably came from a house party.”

Grimm and the ambulance arrive and the young man states his name, appearing responsive.

When he realizes he will be getting into an ambulance, he starts to run.

Zarger and Grimm chase, restrain, handcuff and escort him into the ambulance.

Zarger follows the ambulance to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center, where he signs a 72-hour emergency petition that will keep the man in the hospital.

The man continues to fight with hospital staff and is given an injection to calm him down.

No charges are filed.

“We realize it’s a college town and people are going to party,” says Zarger. “We are there to help them, and make sure everyone gets home OK.”

Editor’s note: On this recent weekend, Frostburg Police answered 21 calls from 7 p.m. Saturday until 4:30 a.m. Sunday.