Well I'm going to throw my 2 cents in here as an 18 year old.

I was 16 two years ago (obviously), and we did some pretty crazy things that I too would rather not mention. Overall a pretty wild few years til now... still pretty wild now that I'm old enough to party in pubs and clubs!

I understand the joy of the social importance of the party. It's becomming a huge cornerstone of teenagehood. Hookups with girls that you may or may not regret, a lot of drinking, silly games like Guitar Hero where you feel like a fool as you blindly hit at notes. Overall a pretty stupid experience but a fun one.

I held a new years eve party at my place while my parents were not here. I did not do it behind their backs, I thought it would be safer just to tell them. I didn't have 500 people admittedly, I had about 30 people. Everyone woke up off my floors the next morning with killer hangovers. But there is a degree of responsibility here.

I paid for the cleaning bill of the carpet with the help of the culprit (guy vomited on the carpet), I cleaned up the bottles, cigarettes and made sure that everything wound up the way it was the few days before. My friends were all in on this as well, helping with cleanup and such. We even turned down the huge noise of music we had playing when the neighbours asked us too, because by about 11 when they did call, we were all way too drunk to care. All we wanted was cheeseburgers :P

The way this kid is acting, the tough guy machismo act is truly insulting to be honest. His mistake was not in having a party, drinking, or inviting over a half thousand people. His mistake was not having the intelligence to not attack cops! If they had just followed the occasional complaint (turn down the music a little, stop spilling into the street) maybe he wouldn't have had the coppers show up. Attacking the law enforcement (which is what he was breaking... the law), is just one of the most stupid ideas I have possibly ever seen. This is nothing to do with culture or anything like "who would have done this better". This is some brat who decided that on an alcohol fueled binge attacking cops would be a really good idea. Work that one out.

Bill should not be the business of the parents. By law they can leave their child (who is over 16) home alone without having broken negligence laws. The little tard needs a huge punishment and that includes paying for the $20,000 bill. Part time work, selling of possessions, maybe that'll teach him not to attack cops. This isn't just a case of a kid destroying the house and having a family issue, this is a public issue where taxpayers dollars have to be paid to stop a 16 year old from making a total f@#kwit of himself by attacking the cops, who are, overall, enforcing a politically democratic set of laws and don't deserve half the crap they get.