Police identified four men who reportedly threw glass liquor bottles at families eating ice cream on the Chocolate Moose patio over Little 500 weekend.
Bloomington Police Department officers identified the men after the owner of the Chocolate Moose on South Walnut Street received signed apology emails. They also used surveillance to confirm the individuals’ identities.
The men identified told officers they could not see the shop’s patio as they lobbed vodka bottles over a wall from an alley behind the ice cream store. They claimed they had no intention of harming anyone and did not know anyone was there.
No one was injured by the incident, but children, teens and adults scattered when glass began shattering at their feet around 2:30 p.m. April 21, the Saturday of “The Greatest College Weekend in America.”
Officers initially thought the bottles fell from the Urban Station Apartments' balconies above the patio, but later determined they were thrown over a wall, making it look like they fell from above.
Three of the four men responsible are 20, and the fourth is 18. Two of the men are Bloomington residents and IU students, and the other two are from Illinois. Each threw one bottle, which police said they think were empty fifths of vodka.
Police interviewed the two men who live in Bloomington on Friday at the BPD station and the two from Illinois over the phone that same day. All four men told officers they were at a party in the area before the incident. Police said the men were cooperative and apologetic.
All four will be cited for criminal recklessness, BPD Capt. Steve. Kellams said.
