Tempe police say fatal accident led them back to bar with hundreds of underage drinkers

Tempe police found about 400 underage drinkers at Tempe Tavern in spring and fall dragnets.

Now, authorities say a deadly hit-and-run is what sent investigators back en force.

An April bust by police at Tempe Tavern yielded more than 170 underage drinking and fake ID arrests. In another bust in November, Tempe police found nearly 250 underage people inside the bar.

The catalyst for the second crackdown was a September vehicle accident that left one person dead.

Police say a teenage driver who fled the scene had spent hours inside Tempe Tavern that night. The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control is reportedly doing a separate review.

The agency did not immediately respond to questions about Tempe Tavern.

Tempe police Lt. Michael Hayes said bars should be proactive, and also ask younger-looking people questions, like — when did you graduate from high school?

"Although I had heard that these IDs were scanning, there is a lot of things that bouncers and managers and people that work at bars can do besides just accepting a scanned ID," Hayes said.