44 TEENS CITED UNDER CITY'S CURFEW ORDINANCE COMPLAINTS OF NOISY PARTY DREW DEPUTIES TO SCENE.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS 

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Sheriff's deputies broke up a noisy party over the weekend, then wrote curfew-violation tickets for 44 teenagers as they left the bash.

The citations brought to 200 the number of $400 curfew-violation tickets issued so far this year to teens in the area under a Santa Clarita ordinance similar to others nationwide that have been struck down by courts.

A sheriff's detective said kids were found jumping fences or hiding in garages and bushes after deputies responded to neighbors' complaints of noise at the party on Don Gee Court. Deputies rounded up the youths and those younger than 18 were cited, sheriff's detective Dan Finn said Monday.

"They weren't with their parents after hours so they were in clear violation," Finn said.

One man, 20-year-old Kurtis Hallquist, was arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment after several teens said they weren't allowed to leave the house, Finn said. Hallquist also faces charges for restricting and obstructing an officer and loud and unreasonable noise. He was held on $50,000 bail.

While the city's curfew ordinance does not include private residences among the places minors are not allowed from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m., the restriction does list "any unsupervised place."

Cited teens must appear in Juvenile Court in Sylmar; some could be picked for the city's 6-month-old Community Court that deals with first-time offenders in cases involving minor violations.

The city's ordinance is similar to other curfew restrictions nationwide that have been found unconstitutional by courts for being too broad, for targeting a particular age group and for usurping parents' authority.

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