Excise police arrest 181 fans over Indy 500 weekend

5/27/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana State Excise Police say officers have arrested 181 people around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The arrests were on 214 charges, mostly alcohol or drug-related.

The agency says that’s up from 125 charges last year.

Excise officers patrolled inside and near the Speedway on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Most arrests were made Friday and on the night before the race.

This year, excise police arrested 137 people on charges of illegal possession or consumption of alcohol. The second most common offenses were drug-related.

Police in the town of Speedway say they arrested 23 people over race weekend, compared with 45 arrests last year.