Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Cops Cite Hostess of Loud Labor Day Weekend Party in Bucktown

By Alisa Hauser | September 3, 2013 1:01pm | Updated on September 3, 2013 3:22pm
 Music "blaring from the roof" brought cops to the 1800 block of West Wabansia Avenue, police said. (file photo)
Music "blaring from the roof" brought cops to the 1800 block of West Wabansia Avenue, police said. (file photo)
View Full Caption
Getty Images/file photo

BUCKTOWN — After allegedly refusing to sign a violation notice related to a city ordinance which prohibits blaring live music, a 34-year-old property owner was cited and taken away from her own party early Saturday, police said.

Britt Whitfield, of the 1800 block of West Wabansia Avenue in Bucktown, was cited with  violating the Chicago municipal code, which prohibits music and amplified sound blaring from any private residence between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

According to police sources, officers were called to Whitfield's home shortly after 12 a.m. Saturday where "music blaring from the roof" from a band could be heard from two blocks away.

Police sources said the party, located in and around Whitfield's home on Wabansia Avenue, had a doorman. 

Additionally, the sidewalk was covered with people sitting at tables with umbrellas "almost like a professional party," police said.

According to Officer Michael Sullivan, a Chicago Police Department spokesman, Whitfield refused to sign an administrative ticket, which would have prevented her from being taken into police custody and enabled the responding officers to go back out onto the street.

Sullivan said Whitfield was released on her own recognizance and has a Sept. 18 court date in Cook County branch court at 5555 W. Grand Ave.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Whitfield said that she was arrested around 10:30 p.m. and had planned to tell a reggae band that was playing on her rooftop to stop playing around 11 p.m. because she thought 11 p.m. is when the noise ordinance begins.

Whitfield said her attorney was present at the party, which was a housewarming party, and instructed her to not sign the administrative notice of violation.

"We cooperated immediately and [the officer] wouldn't tell me what the ticket said and my attorney said, She doesn't need to sign it' and they cuffed me. I plan to file a suit against the police department," said Whitfield, who said she was held in a holding cell until 4:30 a.m.

Whitfield said that the party, which included a DJ playing inside her home, was still going on when she returned around 4:45 a.m.

As for the doorman, Whitfield said she lives "in a building that looks like a bar at street level, but it's a single family house" and she'd put a doorman at the door "to keep people from coming in" from off the street.