PD: Girl who fell to death attended party broken up by officers

PHOENIX — An 18-year-old girl who fell to her death Sunday attended a fraternity party that received a citation from officers, police said.

Naomi McClendon was killed after she fell 10 stories about 2:40 a.m. Sunday morning after becoming intoxicated at a party at 1416 S. Jentilly Lane. Police said the party was hosted by Arizona State University students claiming they were part of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, which is no longer recognized by the university following a series of drinking-related issues.

“They were charging $30 to get in,” Tempe Police Sgt. Mike Pooley said. “Once you got in, you were able to drink as much alcohol as you wanted.”

Pooley said officers broke up the party after McClendon and her friends had left.

“Our patrol officers got out there and we shut the party down,” he said. “We arrested seven underage drinkers from the party and the…ones throwing the party (were cited).”

McClendon was left alone in an apartment by her friends, who believed she was going to sleep. Instead, the Kansas native fell to her death.

As a result of McClendon’s death, Pooley said numerous agencies are combining to create a crackdown this weekend.

“We’re not going to have leniency this weekend,” he said, adding that the plan includes a “very large” DUI task force and an expanded party task force.

But McClendon’s death is not the only contributing factor. Police also want to get student behavior under control.

“We do have people continuing to put themselves into these situations,” Pooley said. “We have people continuing to provide alcohol to minors. We continue to have people that are letting people binge drink to the point that they don’t even know what’s going on and people are going to get hurt.”

Pooley said more charges may be pending in the case.