Teenage girl dies of suspected drug overdose after attending weekend rave at L.A. Coliseum [Updated]

A 15-year-old girl has died of a suspected drug overdose after attending a rave over the weekend at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a hospital official said Tuesday.

The girl was one of two rave attendees who were in critical condition at California Hospital Medical Center after the 14th annual Electric Daisy Carnival. According to the event's website, guests had to be at least 16 to attend, raising questions about how the girl gained admission.

She and the other critically ill patient had been taken to the downtown Los Angeles hospital by ambulance directly from the venue, officials said. Both were treated for drug intoxication in the  intensive care unit.

“She came in as an emergency patient from the rave. She was in respiratory arrest when she got here, and she never recovered,” said Katreena Salgado, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Salgado said the 15-year old girl arrived non-responsive and never woke up. She died shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A full determination of the drugs in the dead teen's system will not be known until an autopsy and toxicology tests are completed. 

[Updated at 5:50 p.m.: Pat Lynch, who manages the Coliseum, was stunned to learn of the death Tuesday.

“Oh, no. Oh, my God,” Lynch said. “I don’t know what to say. That’s just terrible.”

When asked how a 15-year-old was able to get into the event when the minimum age for entry was 16, Lynch said he needed to investigate.

"I'm at a loss," Lynch said. "... Sixteen is what the promoter requested, and I just don’t know….  I've got to  find that information."]

The event, held Friday and Saturday, drew about 185,000 people to carnival rides, five stages and performances by Moby, Will.i.am, Steve Aoki and Deadmau5. About 120 required transport to local hospitals, mostly for drug intoxication.

The volume of patients in need of hospital care led several emergency room physicians on Monday to call for an end to raves at the Coliseum.

Cathy Chidester, director of the county Emergency Medical Systems agency, said Monday that officials treat raves at the Coliseum like a "multi-casualty incident," which she said was similar to planning for a disaster like the Chatsworth Metrolink train crash, which killed 25 and left more than 130 others injured.

Tuesday's death was the latest in a string of high-profile problems at raves held at public venues. Earlier this year, at least 18 drug overdoses tied to Ecstasy were reported at a New Year's Eve rave at the Los Angeles Sports Arena — next to the Coliseum. And two men died of suspected drug overdoses during a Memorial Day weekend rave at the Cow Palace in Daly City, south of San Francisco.

-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Comments

[johnus99]

The use of the word 'Tragedy" is inappropriate. A 15 year old girl who is allowed to leave home to a Rave party is the real tragedy. Drugs can be taken at any venue; associating an event with a direct cause of drug use is misguided. At 15, the only people fully responsible for this child are her parents.

What this is, is a sad outcome of a teenager choosing to take drugs. There is nothing that can reverse what happened, but I do hope this will reach teenagers who are taking or plan to take illegal drugs. Maybe her death can help save lives and produce better choices.

[jonathan e]

and to the person who wrote this
why dont you go to a rave/music festival/party and lets see whether or not you have fun
next time write a story about something else and dont go attacking raves like its a plague attacking los angeles

[Candy Phillip]

What is really sad is that in this day and age, a raver can't get high quality pure MDMA without all those nasty side affects...like death.

[Ryan t]

Call it what you will..The event was a carnival! And please don't judge us unless you have lived our lifestyle. The city can shut down every rave for all I care! We started house music in empty wherehouses and underground partys. Well start it over from scratch:)
Under

[Lou]

You people who blame the girl's parents are ridiculous. You all act as if 15 year olds do not lie to their parents about where they will be for the day and night and possibly next morning.

Do you know how easy it is for a 15 year old to simply tell her parents that she will be spending the night at her friend's house?

And no, most parents of teens do not actually call the house of the trusted friend to verify that their daughter or son is actually there spending the night.

[Rave is king]

18+ to rave. stop underaged raving

[Michelle P.]

just like everything else: stay educated and keep everything in moderation. those overdoses and incidents wouldn't have happened if they knew what they were doing and if they handled themselves properly.

shutting down raves at the coliseum won't solve anything and it'll only take away a great event for all the responsible people who look forward to it each year. besides, edc will only be moved somewhere else.

these people are taking drugs of their own free will. ecstasy doesn't destroy lives, irresponsible, uneducated people destroy their own lives.

[Attendee]

"KIDS" always know how to set great examples for everything.

[Ana Pacheco]

I DONT THINK WE SHOULD BE BLAME EDC OVER A MINORS DESICION TO TAKE TO MANY DRUGS. I ATTENDED THE EVENT STAYED SOBER AND HAD FUN. THE PARENTS ARE TO BLAME FOR LETTING THEIR DAUGHTER ATTEND SUCH A BIG EVENT ITS NOT FAIR THAT THE MEDIA DOESNT PUT THESE PARENTS ON BLAST I KNOW I WOULDNT LET MY KIDS GO TO SUCH A HUGE EVENT WHEN THEIR SO YOUNG EVERYONE KNOWS THESE EVENTS DRAG ALOT OF NARCOTICS THEY WERENT BORN YESTERDAY?

NOBODY FORCED HER TO TAKE THE DRUGS IM REALLY SORRY FOR YOUR DAUGTERS DEATH BUT NEXT TIME USE COMMON SENCE. SHE WAS TOO YOUNG TO BE ATTENDING THIS EVENT..
DONT BLAME EDC BECAUSE ITS A GREAT MUSIC FESTIVAL NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY ITS A GREAT THING ITS ALL ABOUT THE RESPONSIBILITY AND RECOGNITION OF THE PERSON MAKING HUGE MISTAKES AND I DO BELIVE THESE KINDS OF EVENTS SHOULD BE 18+ OLDER PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO BE MORE RESPONSIBLE....

[Sam]

It's annoying how everyone is blaming EDC for what happened to this girl. It is a tragedy, but no one told her to take drugs. Yeah I agree, these types of events need to be 18+ but even then you will see 15 year olds getting in with fake IDs which is probably what happened in this case. People are going to do what they want to do no matter what the regulations are.

[Dr. R.A.Love]

Meanwhile, over the same weekend, 2406 people (nationwide) died from the effects of smoking cigarettes.

Dear Drug Ranters...Please Focus on the Truth/Facts.

If drugs were 'legalized' then the abuse of 'bathtub/toxic' quality drugs, which probably killed this girl, would come very close to ending.

That all these popular and widely used substances are illegal has created a culture of misinformation and officially sanctioned deception that make the education and the resulting intelligent behavior needed to deal with these sort of issues a nearly impossible situation to achieve. The laws have failed in every possible way, and are as harmful as any of the drugs that they purport to control.

And everyone knows that teenagers are the pinnacle of good judgment.

Her parents, the law, and the mythology of our culture have all failed this child, and legions of others just like her, who have little chance but to make dangerous choices trying to feel happy in an unsure, indifferent, and impersonal world.

[Anonymous]

Main stream media=a bunch of leaches.
Monkey see monkey do.
Large % of the sources reporting weren't even present.
Maybe now parents will start interacting with their kids & get involved....
Not!

[Christy]

One question: where were these kids' parents?? It is the parents responsibility to make sure that their children aren't going to events that they are too young to be attending. It is the parents responsibility to make sure that their children aren't doing massive amounts of drugs. If you ingest massive amounts of drugs you might die...if your children ingest massive amounts of drugs they might die...come on people, it's not rocket science. Every person that does drugs has to understand that they are, quite literally, putting their life in danger. If they are willing to take that risk...and their parents aren't parenting enough to keep them from taking that risk...well then, what is anyone else supposed to do about it?

[B]

Just 1 death? I'm actually surprised by that.

Pretty sure more people died that night from drunk driving around the city. If you're gonna shut down EDU, than shut down every bar/club in LA.

[Cb]

Its u fortunate that someone died here. ,y heart and prayers go out to her family. I would not blame ts on a rave though. To csll for a shutdown of raves at the coliseum due to kids od'ing is not going to prevent theese things from happening. You cant out engenieer/outplan where kids are going to do drugs. Raves like those at the coliseum are much more co trolled and better than raves in the old days. Back then you were in the middle of the desert, mo paramed on sight, no nothing. If we start banning raves, theyll just go underground like they used to.

[AAA]

EDC is NOT rave!

Raves DON'T end at 2am!

Raves DON'T have full police task forces on hand!

EDC IS a electronic dance music festival/concert!

[Andrew Lee]

I havent seen anything that said the girl had a ticket on her (maybe i missed that in any of these reports) for all anyone knows, she snuck in, in many of the reports on tv they show people jumping fences along with the same story, she may have snuck in, unlikely since so many underage got in, but its just as unlikely as saying she drank a bottle of water laced with E, so if thats possible according to reporters without any evidence to prove this, then her jumping the fence and sneeking in is just as possible.

ONE THING I NOTICED ON CHANNEL 5 NEWS!!!

When reporting about the people jumping fences and etc, IT SHOWED A POLICE OFFICER OR SECURITY GAURD HITTING PEOPLE WITH THEIR BATON WHO WERE NOT RESISTING, PUTTING UP A FIGHT NOR DID THEY HAVE ANY WEAPONS! Their clip SHOWED security or police ASSAULTING ravers without any provokation. Jumping the fence might be illegal or against the rules, but that does not constitue violence against the defensless atendees. When showing this clip I only saw two people getting attacked without cause before they cut to the a different clip, yet these reporters said nothing about the security or cop physically assaulting people with a weapon, yet they want to make the ravers seem so irresponsible and dangerous but ignore this when THEY SHOWED THE CLIP ON THE AIR.

Police and security are supposd to be there to keep us out of harms way, not to cause us harm.

Back to the girl, she shouldnt have been there, but at the same time there is no reason to list an age limit if its not enforced, its both INSOMNIACS fault and the girls, they knew when making it 16+ there would be no legit way to regulate it without slowing the event down and preventing thousands from entering, but if they are making 17 million dollars at the event, they can afford to lose a few thousand people if it saves a life but obviously that persons life did have a price on it. And that price was $100 or so, the price it took for her to get into the event she was supposed to be kept out of by regulated age limits.

Kids dont need to go to events they know they arent allowed at, just like security and events need to make the preperations to FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THEIR OWN RULES! If its 16+, check ids!!! You have to fuckin look 35 to buy cigarettes, but you only have to look 12 to get into a 16+ raves without id?

[Diana]

Its sad that this girl passed on.EDC should not be moved or cancled soley because this 15 year old girl made a poor decision to use a substance. people like her ruin it for many people like me, who go to raves for the music and not the drugs.

[Jagexxx]

When I get home this evening, I'm going to show this article to my 7 year old daughter. I'll show her the picture of the pretty girl. I'll tell her she died at a concert because of drugs. I'll explain what drugs are, and try to explain why some people like to take them.

This is a sad story. I do feel the blame lies with the girl and her parents. Though raves - to me - scream "drugs and music", unless this girl was unknowingly given them, party drugs are a definite game of Russian Roulette, which she played and lost.

[TRAY]

I WAS WORKING THE RAVE BOTH DAYS AND I JUST SEE SO MANY YOUNG CHILDREN I COULDN'T PICTURE SO MAN YOUNG PEOPLE BUT ALL AND ALL I HAD FUN WORKING IT OTHER THEN PEOPLE FALLING OUT IT WAS A GOOD RAVE. THE POLICE HAD STRONG PRESENTS ALL OVER WITH THE STATE POLICE SO U CAN'T BLAME THAT IT WAS THE YOUNG ONES THE BABY'S WHO STATED ALL THE TROUBLE WITH HOPPING IN OVER THE GATES BUT NEXT YR IT SHOULD BE AT THE ROSE BOWL OR AT THE CARSON HOME DEPOT CENTER MAKE

[.]

you cant blame anyone for this besides the girl i'm pretty sure no one forced her to use drugs its simple don't do drugs you cant blame insomniac or anyone else for this girls actions she choose to take drugs and she paid the price its sad to say but its true to blame the promoters or the rave is just a cop out why was she even at the rave anyway isn't it the parents responsibility to know where she was? raves are always going to attract negative attention i learned this long ago but its ludicrous to blame everyone else when stuff like this happens you reap what you sew you wanna mess with drugs then you will have to ultimately pay the price and these kids arent as stupid as you thing they know the risks of taking the drug yet they do it anyway so its their fault and no ones else they made a conscience decision to take said drug so stop blaming everyone else it just makes you look ignorant was she young yes is it sad of course but she was old enough to know right from wrong so STOP trying to blame the world for this tragedy ..

[UNKNOWN]

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, SHE TOLD HER PARENTS SHE WAS SLEEPING OVER A FRIENDS HOUSE, SO HOW WERE HER PARENTS SUPPOSED TO KNOW? UHH YEAH EXACTLY, AND NO SHE DIDNT HAVE ANY OTHER CONDITIONS, SHE OBVIOUSLY WAS THERE DEHYDRATED AND INTOXICATED WITH "X" DRINKING OUT OF SOMEONES WATER BOTTLE, AND YES WE SHOULD BLAME THE VENUE BECAUSE THEY DONT BOTHER TO CHECK AGES. DO NOT SAY HURTFULL THINGS ABOUT OTHERS LOVED ONES, IF IT WAS YOUR LOVED ONES YOU WOULD BE OFFENDED, AND YES IT WAS HER FIRST TIME THERE.

[cynthia]

it's a music festival! it's not anybody's fault that people take this type of music as an excuse to do drugs... people go because of the MUSIC! if they become illegal people will find a way to have them underground and more tragedy will happen there!

their should not have been ANY reason a 15 year old girl's parents weren't keeping up with their daughters where abouts... just because ONE person died out of 185k doesn't mean this should come to an end... the enviroment at these music festivals are much friendlier and happier than your typical outings.

it seems like people are just sitting there waiting for something to complain about! get a life.

[Anonymous Former 15-year-old]

Doesn't anyone remember being 15? I do. I lied to my parents all the time and I never wanted to listen to them. I am alive, but I suffered long-term health problems as a result of what I did back then. Although I would love to, I can't blame my parents; I blame myself because I personally chose to make bad decisions on my own.

Unless someone forced the drugs down the girl's throat, or she had some legitimate health condition, the only person to blame is her. She took the drugs, if it turns out that's what happened. Sure, maybe EDC failed her by letting her in, but who knows -- she could've had a fake ID or even if she hadn't gotten in, who's to say she would have been doing something innocent anyway.

[Sarah]

wow all you people are crazy....ok drugs have been around forever! people will do them no matter what! yes its a rave and they're fun. Her death is tragic but she took the drugs by herself and was dancing and knew she was rolling. Her parents knew it was 16+ in another artical they say the were joking about it and though she was in trouble. in trouble for what?? obviously they knew she was unage and couldn't attend they're were 200,000 people that would take forever to check ids parents should make sure they know where their children are! She's 15 she knows she wasnt suppose to go yet she did. She knows right from wrong.yes I also think it should be 18+ but you can't blame raves or anyone else its the kids who bring them in. cops can only do so much. can't follow you into the bathroom. She took E becasuse she wanted to. Stop blaming the promoters!!!!!!!!!!! yeah they put them on but its the people who dont follow rules and do stupid stuff that gets everyone else introuble. how about we all stop blaming other and start blaming youorself for actions you make. its a sad story and im sorry to here she didnt make it but she is part to blame she took the pills. I'm sorry. The promoters didn't tell her to take drugs and go even though you are 15! She did it willingly.