Drugs, alcohol and trespassing charges were the crimes du jour at the SoCal EDM event, which had a large undercover police presence
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428 arrests but no deaths at Nocturnal Wonderland
While one in 157 festivalgoers were arrested, a clean bill of health for another Insomniac festival in San Bernardino can only be good news for the promoter
By IQ on 07 Sep 2016
Very-much-alive punters at Nocturnal Wonderland last weekend
image © Insomniac
Police made over 400 arrests at Nocturnal Wonderland at the San Manuel Amphitheater in California last weekend, but – in news that bodes well for promoter Insomniac’s strained relationship with San Bernardino County – there were no recorded deaths.
A total of 428 people – one in every 157 of the EDM event’s 67,195 attendees – were arrested, the majority for trespassing, public intoxication and possession of ecstasy, says the San Bernardino sheriff’s department, and 20 people hospitalised, but, like sister event Beyond Wonderland in late March, the festival was fatality-free.
A proposal to ban raves at the 65,000-capacity amphitheatre was struck down by San Bernardino County councillors in June, although Janice Rutherford, the councillor (or ‘supervisor’) behind the original motion is attempting to revive the bill following the deaths of two young people at Hard Summer at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana – promoted by Insomniac parent company Live Nation – last month.
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