Dallas-Fire Rescue says 7 citations were issued to Insomniac Incorporated, the people behind the Electric Daisy Carnival this weekend at Fair Park.
A 19-year-old man died after attending an electronic music festival in Dallas and 30 people were treated at hospitals for drug, alcohol and heat-related problems, Dallas officials said.
Fire officials said Andrew Graf of Argyle died late Saturday night at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. His cause of death was pending toxicology results, which will take several weeks, according to the Dallas Medical Examiner's Office.
Estimated total attendance was between 21,000 and 24,000 according to the City of Dallas and the last hard count received at 11 p.m. on the night of the event was 21,000.
The city said that at 8 p.m. as patrons continued to arrive Dallas Fire-Rescue recognized the need to increase their staffing levels, and by 11 p.m. Dallas police had increased the number of officers to 47.
At midnight fire and police officials enacted a "soft close" plan because of concerns over public health and to avoid abruptly closing the event and causing "civil unrest."
Dallas Fire-Rescue said seven citations were issued to Insomniac Incorporated, two were for overcrowding, two more for failure to obtain a count of occupants and three for obstruction of justice.
Dallas Fire-Rescue said, "despite the fact that the overall number of attendees was not surpassed, each building had its own occupancy load, and those of the Centennial and Automobile buildings were exceeded. Specifically, the area around the stage in the Centennial Building was overcrowded, and the entire Automobile building was overcrowded."
"The obstruction of justice came as a result of refusing to comply with turning on the lights and turning down the music for better crowd control," said Dallas Fire-Rescue public information officer Jason L. Evans in a news release.
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Insomniac Incorporated issued the following statement:
"Insomniac works closely with local public safety officials in each City where we operate to make our events safe and we greatly appreciate their involvement in the planning process. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our fans. Given that the venue was permitted to hold 42,972 people and our event hosted 23,600 we did not violate any laws and plan to appeal these unwarranted claims.
Citations were accepted from the Fire Department in Dallas. The citations were unwarranted and Insomniac will challenge the validity of each in court."
The carnival is next set to go to Las Vegas, where it was relocated from Los Angeles. The three-day festival is set to begin Friday.
Dozens of entertainers are due to perform. The event was shunned in Los Angeles last year following a 15-year-old girl's fatal drug overdose.
The CEO of Insomniac Inc., which produces the parties, Pasquale Rotella expressed condolences for Graf's family in a statement issued over the weekend.
"To go from a moment of happiness and enjoyment, to the loss of life, is heartbreaking," said Rotella according to the Los Angeles Times.
Las Vegas police say they're as cautious about the event as ever after the Dallas death. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has said concertgoers must be responsible for their own behavior.
