Overdoses suspected in deaths of 2 women at California music festival

Published 4:46 pm Sunday, August 2, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Two young women died of suspected drug overdoses after collapsing at the HARD Summer music festival at the Fairplex in Pomona, authorities said Sunday.

Both women — one 18 years old, one 19 — were found unresponsive at the festival Saturday evening, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. It was unclear whether the women were connected in any way.

The 18-year-old was transported to San Dimas Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 6 p.m., authorities said. The 19-year-old was transported to Pomona Valley Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about 8:40 p.m.

The identities of both women were withheld pending notification of family members, authorities said. Autopsies are scheduled to determine the exact causes of death.

With noon-day temperatures already in the mid-80s, many of the concertgoers who flocked into the Fairplex on Sunday said they were unaware of the two deaths.

“It is unfortunate that this kind of tragedy happens. People get carried away,” said Oscar Mendez, 19. “People try to fit in and they don’t know their limits.”

Mendez said drugs are part of the music festival scene but that “anytime someone dies it is a shock.”

Ernesto Lopez, 23, said the heat and crowded conditions combined with drugs and alcohol can take a physical toll.

“Some people can’t handle it,” he said. “You have to look out for people. In heat, some people pass out. With all those bodies, the heat and, whatever else, it hurts.”

About 65,000 people were expected to attend each day of the two-day festival, which was to end Sunday and was to include performances by such electronic-music acts such as the Chemical Brothers and Jack U. That eclipses last year’s total of 80,000 for the fest, which was held at Whittier Narrows.

The new numbers make HARD Summer the biggest music festival of its kind in Los Angeles County. By comparison, FYF attracted about 80,000 to its two-day event at Exposition Park in Los Angeles last year. Coachella remains the biggest Southern California music festival, with about 100,000 visitors per day for six days.

The deaths come amid growing scrutiny of drug use at these types of music events and whether officials should be doing more to prevent it.

In June, a 24-year-old San Francisco man and University of California, Irvine graduate died while attending the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in Las Vegas. Authorities said he ingested a fatal dose of the drug Ecstasy.

A Los Angeles Times investigation published in 2013 found that at least 14 people who attended raves sponsored by two concert organizers had died of overdoses or other drug-related incidents since 2006. Since the investigation was published, five more have died in drug-related incidents.

Health and law enforcement officials have warned that raves bring substantial drug risks, particularly involving Ecstasy, which is closely tied to the culture of raves — marathon dance parties featuring electronic music. There’s a common misconception that Ecstasy, an illicitly made hallucinogen in pill form, is safe to take.

Ecstasy can cause body temperatures as high as 108 degrees — so high that the body’s organs are destroyed. Multi-organ system failure can begin, which can cause a seizure, coma and death.

When raves were held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, drug overdoses rose so much that local emergency rooms were overwhelmed with severely ill rave attendees, and emergency room doctors urged that raves end there.