Lawsuit over ecstasy-related death hits close to home


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The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum reigns as an illustrious landmark in the minds of USC students, playing host to our beloved home football games.

But in June 2010, the Coliseum witnessed tragedy when a teenage girl, Sarah Rodriguez, died of an ecstasy overdose when she attended the Electric Daisy Carnival. The girl’s parents are now suing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and the event company Insomniac, which put on the rave, for negligence in their supervision of EDC.

The lawsuit claims the event was overcrowded and understaffed, which delayed the response by medical staff provided to the victim. By the time she arrived at the hospital, the suit claims, she was nonverbal and salivating, and suffered a seizure shortly thereafter.

The Coliseum had no comment regarding the suit, but Insomniac has deemed the case “completely without merit.”

Drug use, especially that of ecstasy, known as a “party drug,” has grown increasingly prominent among teenagers and young adults, particularly in the LA area, which hosts a wide variety of raves. The Coliseum and the Shrine Auditorium, both of which lie just outside the USC campus, host several raves each year, all of which attract a wide variety of “ravers” of all ages, many of whom take ecstasy when they attend a rave.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated Rodriguez died ‘this past June.’ Rodriguez passed away in June of 2010.

1 reply
  1. 2010
    2010 says:

    First, the EDC where Sasha died was June 2010, not “this past June.” This past June, EDC took place in Las Vegas (among other locations).

    Second, this lawsuit is ridiculous. Sasha was a girl who ingested drugs that she clearly did not understand and paid the price for it. Not all drugs are dangerous, especially ecstasy, if they are taken by someone who understands how the drug works and how to mitigate the negative side effects. I was at EDC 2010 in the Coliseum and know that Insomniac did what they could to reduce drug use, but just as at ANY music festival (such as Coachella, Bonaroo, or Sasquatch) there will be drug use. What Insomniac should be sued for is the awful performance that Deadmau5 put on that summer…

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