Officers patrolling the Oread neighborhood as part of the Lawrence Police Department’s Fall Safety Initiative have encountered a series of troubling alcohol-related activities since Kansas University’s fall semester began in August.

Police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said that over the past several weeks, officers on two occasions have witnessed groups of men taking unconscious, “highly intoxicated” women back to their fraternity houses after nights out on the town.

The first instance happened on Aug. 29 during a traffic stop, McKinley said. An officer pulled over the car and found nine people — seven men and two women — squeezed inside. One of the women was unconscious from alcohol intoxication.

The officer asked the others in the car if they knew the passed-out woman, and they claimed they did, McKinley said. However, they were unable to recall her name or address when the officer asked.

The second incident occurred on Sept. 5 near the intersection of 14th and Ohio streets when an officer noticed a group of men attempting to lift an unconscious woman to carry her back to their fraternity house, McKinley said. Again, the men claimed to know her, but did not know her name.

In both circumstances, the men told officers they were planning to care for the women back at their fraternity houses. However, officers assessing the situation instead stopped the men and called ambulances. Both unconscious women were taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for treatment of possible alcohol poisoning.

McKinley said it is “impossible to know the intentions of the men involved.” They could have been up to something nefarious or truly concerned about the women’s conditions. Regardless, he said, the situations were unsafe due to the women’s level of intoxication.

“Who knows how often these things happen,” McKinley said. “Intoxication of those extremes is a medical emergency and an ambulance needs to be called.”

McKinley said that when an evening involves drinking, “people need to stay in groups and make sure someone responsible is assigned to remain sober” to look out for the group. He also stressed the importance of monitoring one’s alcohol intake and being aware of one’s surroundings.