Last year was a rough one at HARD Summer Music Festival in Southern California. Two young girls, Katie Dix (18) and Tracy Nguyen (19), passed away after being transported from the festival to a nearby hospital. Both deaths are suspected to be caused by the use of ecstasy.
As of late, the parents of Dix have filed a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, LA County, LA County Fair Association, Staff Pro Inc and the City of Pomona for wrongful death, negligence, premises liability and public nuisance allegations.
According to My News LA:
The suit maintains that the defendants knew or should that the drug Ecstasy is “commonly ingested at raves” and that it would be distributed and consumed at Hard Fest.
The defendants “turned a blind eye to the known risks in order to capitalize on teenagers and young adults who believed they were attending a safe party environment” sanctioned by the city of Pomona and Los Angeles County, the suit alleges. The rave fans also believed there were would be sufficient security and emergency personnel, according to the suit.
The article also states:
Although there were 65,000 in attendance, there were only four medical stations and those who treated the young woman — who was found unresponsive — were not properly trained, the suit states.
HARD Summer takes place again this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. It will be interesting to see how the festival has improved in terms of security and emergency personnel. We are hoping the festival has learned from experience and is a success.
Photo via Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times.
Note: Katie Dix and Tracy Nguyen are not pictured in the photo.
