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More Than 250 People Arrested At San Bernardino EDM Festival
(Photo courtesy of Nocturnal Wonderland)
More than 250 people were arrested Friday and Saturday at the Nocturnal Wonderland festival in San Bernardino. According to statements from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department, 111 people were arrested Friday and 141 people were arrested Saturday. There were various reasons for the arrests, including possession of drugs, drug sales, under the influence of drugs and or alcohol, assault and battery, resisting arrest, and one arrest for indecent exposure. The event has been held at the San Bernardino-county owned San Manuel Amphitheater since 2013.
At least one of the arrests was DUI-related: KTLA reports that an individual was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence Friday after crashing into a San Bernardino Sheriff's deputy motorcyclist. The deputy was uninjured, though another member of the force was hospitalized after being injured during an arrest.
A spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department told the Riverside Press Enterprise that more than one hundred law enforcement officers were on hand at the event, including both uniformed and undercover deputies, along with additional officers paid by the event promoter to patrol the surrounding neighborhoods.
Southern California EDM events have been plagued by deaths and arrests in recent years. Three people died earlier this summer at the HARD Summer festival in Fontana. In March, nearly 250 were arrested at the Beyond Wonderland festival, a Nocturnal Wonderland sister event that was also held at the San Miguel Ampitheater.
San Bernardino County moved to ban raves at county-owned facilities back in May, but the proposal fizzled out due to a lack of a quorum among the county's Board of Supervisors, according to the San Bernardino Sun. The Sun reports that Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos has pledged to revisit the ban.
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