The Milwaukee Police Department issued 17 citations to underage patrons early Thursday morning during a raid at Mi-Key’s tavern.

In addition, MPD and the City Attorney’s Office are investigating the tavern for being notably over capacity. The incident occurred around 12:30 a.m. in the 800 block of N. Jefferson St., where the tavern is located.

“Some of the underage patrons had false identification while some indicated that they had just been let into the bar,” MPD Lieutenant Mark Stanmeyer said in an email. “Our investigation also revealed that the tavern was significantly over capacity and we are working with the city attorney’s office on citations that will be issued to the operators of the establishment.”

Joseph Flores, a senior in the College of Business Administration who was at Mi-Key’s during the raid, said the bar was “packed beyond reason” when police arrived. He estimated that there were over 200 people inside at the time of the raid.

When policed arrived on the scene, Flores said that “chaos” broke out.

“All of a sudden, the lights came on and the music went off and everyone was wondering what the heck was going on,” he said. “There was a huge mob trying to get out and (MPD) was not letting anyone out. They were literally checking everyone’s IDs one by one and letting them get out of the bar.”

The large congestion of people trying to leave caused people to push, bump up against one another and Flores said people could barely move.

“Everyone was pushing,” Flores said. “People could have gotten hurt. It was hard to breathe. One poor girl fell and she got trampled. It was awful.”

After 30 minutes of being held inside, police let the remainder of people leave but Flores said that police were filming the mob of people leaving.

“They had cop cars all around, they had the paddy wagon loading up a bunch of people and the bar was completely emptied,” he said. “They had to call an ambulance for one girl.”

Flores said that the situation could have easily been avoided. The bouncers at the door were not checking everyone’s IDs and just letting some people in, including underage patrons.

“There was way too many people in there,” he said. “It took me longer to get out than it did to get in.”

Mi-Key’s tavern did not return calls for comment.