Coliseum officials suspend raves after teen girl's death at Electric Daisy Carnival

The following is an excerpt from a story that will appear in tomorrow's Los Angeles Times.

When the Electric Daisy Carnival — a massive dance party with top-name acts — rolled into town last weekend, officials thought they were prepared, this time.

There were rows of ambulances ready outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Nearby hospitals raised their staff to levels that are used for "multi-casualty incidents," such as train crashes. The Los Angeles Police Department used twice as many officers as are usually deployed at USC football games. Crash-proof fences were installed to guard against crowd surges and an investigator from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was stationed at the command post.

But was it enough?

The suspected drug overdose death on Tuesday evening of a 15-year-old girl who had attended the event came on the heels of reports that hundreds had tried to crash the gates and scores were taken by ambulance to nearby emergency rooms, most with symptoms of drug intoxication.

On Wednesday, as criticism mounted, Coliseum officials announced a temporary ban on new contracts with rave operators as they consider whether to allow another such event.

"The general public deserves to be assured that when the Coliseum's tenants stage an event, the health and safety of the promoter's patrons are protected," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who serves on the joint state, county and city commission that oversees the Coliseum, said in a letter calling for a temporary halt to such events. "Clearly, there was a breakdown at the Electric Daisy Carnival which put the public at risk."

The death Tuesday of Sasha Rodriguez, a high school student and drill team member from Atwater Village, was the latest in a string of high-profile problems at raves held in public venues — problems that already had attracted the attention of the CDC.

Last month, the CDC reported at least 18 Ecstasy overdoses at a New Year's rave at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, next to the Coliseum. Two men died of suspected overdoses during a Memorial Day weekend rave at the Cow Palace in Daly City, south of San Francisco.

At the Electric Daisy Carnival, held for the 14th year, Los Angeles police made 118 arrests, mostly for drug possession. Deputy Police Chief Pat Gannon said he had 40 plainclothes detectives working the show — and added that "if I had 1,000 I would have made 1,000 arrests it was so packed with drugs."

Officials from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said they have filed 34 felony drug charges in connection with the event. In addition, 25 cases alleging possession with intent to sell have been referred to the L.A. city attorney's office.

Los Angeles has perhaps the most thriving rave scene in the nation, and the Electric Daisy Carnival is billed as North America's largest dance event. Promoters said 185,000 attended over two days. Raves are known for mixing a stew of electronic music, special effects and, frequently, narcotics, to fuel dancers for hours. Many who attended the event said the crowd was friendly and mellow.

Technically, anyone who was under 16 had to be accompanied by an adult — but Gannon said there was no evidence that anyone was checking attendees' identification.

Los Angeles-based Insomniac Inc., the festival's producer, called Sasha's death "a tragic circumstance" in a statement Wednesday.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to her family and friends at this difficult time," the statement said. "We are currently reviewing the entire event and planning process with our security team, law enforcement and the city officials who participated in organizing and planning Electric Daisy Carnival."

Insomniac declined to discuss the issue further.

Read the full story. 

Crowds rush a fence at the Electric Daisy Carnival. (John W. Adkisson / Los Angeles Times)

Comments

[REBEKAH]

CITY OF LAS ANGLES.. IF YOU CARE FOR YOUR YOUTH AND YOUR CITY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER MAKING ALL FUTURE EVENT ENFORCED 18+ WITH VALID I.D.

[Michael Ryan Hixson]

Question! How is it said that Electric Daisy Carnival is at fault along with the colleseum for a 15 year old girl's death? She died on Tuesday right? Electric Daisy Carnival happened on Friday and Saturday and neither them or the colleseum should be held as providing a medium for that girl to do something stupid. She decided to go to EDC then after the weekend, about tuesday she decided to do drugs and died on Tuesday. EDC WAS LONG OVER is not the event that makes people do what they do. People are going to get together like that one way or another, and some of those people will see it as an opportunity to take drugs but you can have this happen anywhere. I personally attended the event and I enjoyed every minute of it sober. Everyone was together and happy. Granted there were some Idiots there, but where can you go where there isn't a few? It's a Great event. We can't help it that it's so good people are willing to dive over fences and get tackled down or fall just to get in. it's not that dramatic either. and I do agree with the 18 and up deal REBEKAH is talking about. The event is ingrained in our Los Angeles legacy and it will go on to other places. and the same people who vigilantly support it like your kids WILL chase it down whereever it goes. Also reality check, these kids want to go rave and there will be a way to go do it which probably isn''t as safe as EDC so restricting things more doesn't help one bit. you have to educate kids about drugs and let them make their own choices based on values you instill. they will find a way if they want to as badly as the fence jumpers. kids are doing drugs in every city it isn't the colleseum's fault or Insomniac's(r) fault that a kid in the middle of the week wanted to take Exstacy and it went bad. Thank you, have a good night.

[mhkp]

Michael-
The girl OD'ed at EDC on Saturday, was in a coma until her parents took her off life support on Tuesday.

[Chirus]

First of all, Parents should not allow their kids to go to these type of rave/events etc. I support for it to shut down anywhere in California --- it's only destroying our teenagers/kids and who has that kind of money to pay $75 or whatever price they paid for an entrance and $65 for parking that is in sane - a rip off. Young adults and teenagers...there are other ways to have fun ----this is not even live band/music - just stupid dj's with costumes playing - it was like Halloween in July...
City of LA - PLEASE DO SOMETHING for our KIDS.
Stop being ignorant drugs/alcohol are bad for you---God Bless!!!

[Rome Maxwell]

aight well my personal opinion they should ID people before entrance to any event hands down needs to be done because to many young ones come into these things thinking they know wassup and that they can handle it but really cant. But its honestly not the LA Coliseums fault or Insomniacs that a girl happend to overdose due to drug use. I dont understand why her parents would allow there 15 year old daughter to go to such an event as EDC and if they didnt allow her then how do you not know where your daughter is for 12 hours out of the day? Its not like Insomniac or the LA Coliseum gave her the drugs or even knew she was on drugs. They do there job by searching every indivudual before entry. Yeah there are some hospital runs and aresst for people who are not smart and make bad decisions but the whole scene shouldnt be punished for a few peoples mistakes. They were over 100,000 people at this event and the numbers of people that got into trouble with the law or had to be escorted to the hospital porbablly doesnt even add up to a 3rd of the people that attended to the event. EDC is an amazing thing when people come together and have a good time. And it should definatly not be banned for a few peoples mistake. Its not EDC fault soo why cancle such legendary thing.

[nap]

18+ ???? .. 21+!!!!

[jal]

Raves do not promote the usage of drugs. Sure, they do make a great place for people on drugs to be there because it runs for a long period of time, and there is awesome music and lazer/lightshows. It's like ANY other MUSIC FESTIVAL. People CHOOSE to do drugs, the production company like Insomniac DID NOT MAKE this girl take any drugs-also on website, as part of the guidelines it does say "NO Illegal substances (including narcotics) or drug paraphernalia" & there are security that check. Yes, they may not check as hard as some would like, but still they are doing their job, and for the sake of keeping CUSTOMERS happy they must keep the pace at a swift rate, so getting into the event will not take hours! Insomniac has no part in the occurrence of her death. Just like i said, a rave is like any other music concert (things like this do happen at rock/hip-hop concerts) for some reason, the rave community is more profound with these situations. Yes, it is a dismay that this girl's life was taken so young, but unfortunately what happened to her was ALL on HER. The consequences that occurred were based on her OWN actions, not anyone else's. She could've chosen NOT to take drugs. If anything, she should've known her own body, and how much it could handle-if she didn't know, she shouldn't have done it in the first place.

[Michael Ryan Hixson]

I'm sorry, this article didn't specify that she was in a coma the whole time. I actually read elsewhere that she had been in a coma and had to come back to this post, and I stand corrected on my argument. My sincere condolences go out to her and her family. HOWEVER, everyone is exactly right. No matter what a parent tries to do, the child will always find a sneaky way to get around them and do what they want to do. She decided she wanted to take drugs on her own, it wasn't the venue or Insomniac's fault. Someone could have overdosed at a club in hollywood or at a country music show at any age. The question is what drug did she accidentally take? It's not extasy that kills you it's taking something else that you think is extasy when really it could have been a strong dose of oxycontin. Young kids are wreckless and think they can do what they want pop a bunch of pills and drink and all kinds of this and that. These are the consequences, I feel really bad I really do. It sucks to see people get hurt.

[Hannah]

This is ridiculous. Chirus, i'm sorry but just because you dont like the music doesn't mean that other people don't believe it's real. you havn't looked into the music that much i'm sure and some of it can be beautiful. You actually have to be talented to make music such as this but how would you know. you've never tried it... so you have no idea the type of respect that some of these people have for the music. I'm sorry that a girl died. My heart truly goes out to her family and every life she has touched. But she killed herself. The people who put the event together weren't shoving drugs down her throat, she was willingly doing that to herself. I also went to the event completely sober and it was remarkable. I think that just because you dont like the music doesnt give you the right to insult everyone who goes. And i believe that if "THEY" want to shut down raves, then they should shut down every concert known to man kind. because NO MATTER WHAT at ANY concert you attend there will be people there who take drugs. There have been people who have died at rock concerts, rap concerts, any kind of concert, it doesnt matter, people have died at all of them. So why would you target raves. If you take them away then There will be so many people who will never be able to respect and take in that music live ever again. People who listen to strictly techno, like me. Once again i feel horrible about the girl who died. but she chose to go to the event and take drugs. Obviously the event was prepared and did everything in their power to prevent the worst from happening. but do you expect them to just guess and be completely right about how many officials they would need. No one can be psychic like that. If you want to criticise anything about the electric daisy carnival you couldn't. If you want to blame anyone! blame that girl. at 15 she is still old enough to know right from wrong. If she was responsible enough to purchase an edc ticket, responsible enough to purchase drugs, and responsible enough to take them. then she and any one else that age is responsible enough to recognize the outcome. i believe this is simply a learning experience. But if you want to blame anyone about this girls death... then simply blame her because she intoxicated her body, and she died because of it. simple as that.

[dan]

QUESTION: does insomniac pay for the ambulances/ police/ firefighters?