One Dead And 23 More Hospitalized After California Music Festival

Authorities have spoken to reporters at KCRA 3, stating that one person has died and 23 others were in the hospital since attending last weekend’s HARD summer music festival in Southern California. Two of the women remain at the hospital, say San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. There were also 11 people arrested during the weekend music festival.

Andrew Cole Click from Tracy, California, was pronounced dead at a hospital, the sheriff’s department has said, at 11:15 p.m. Sunday, August 5, 2018. As of yet, the autopsy to determine Click’s cause of death has not been conducted or released to the public. Besides Click, 23 other people were taken or checked into the hospital for varying medical issues, with two of those being women who are still at the hospital. The 11 people who were arrested were taken in for drug offenses.

The HARD music festival took place this past weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which is east of Los Angeles. More than 81,500 people were attending the festival Saturday, August 4, and 74,000 were there on the Sunday, the day Click passed away. Temperatures reached nearly 100 degrees during the festival.

In 2016, a HARD music festival took place in Fontana, where of those attending, three people died from overdose, cites KCRA 3.When this news hit the public, Live Nation Entertainment, who headed the Hard brand since 2012, released their statement, Hard Summer spokeswoman Alexandra Greenberg saying, “We were deeply saddened to learn about the deaths of the three people who attended the festival this weekend.” No statement has been made as of yet in regard to Click’s death at this year’s HARD Summer Music Festival.

At the festival in 2016, Fontana Herald News says that 146,000 fans were drawn to the HARD summer music festival. Given the turnout for this year’s music festival, totaling 155,500 in attendance, that would make this turnout the biggest ever for a musical event in Fontana, California.

Organizers of the HARD Summer Music Festival had added more cooling areas to the site, say reporters, some of which included a pool. This was in an effort to help attendees try and weather the heat during daytime temperatures.

Since 2006, Variety says at least 24 drug-related deaths have occurred at nationwide festivals and raves organized by Los-Angeles-area companies. Most of the deaths involved “Molly,” otherwise known as Ecstasy. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department has not remarked to reporters what drugs the 11 people were arrested with this year, or spoken out about the cause for the 23 hospitalizations.