Coroner investigates death at “Coachella”
Weekend two of the Coachella Music Festival begins with news a festival goer has died. We learned 24- year old Kimchi Truong of Oakland collapsed at the festival on Sunday and then died at a local hospital Thursday.
Right now we do not know what caused her to collapse, but the coroner’s office is looking at the possibility of an overdose.
Festival goers we talked with say they will be extra vigilant this weekend.
“It’s pretty sad, you have to be careful,” said festival goer Art Santillan.
Kimchi Truong attended Coachella Weekend One along with about 100,000 other people.
According to Truong’s LinkedIn page, she was expected to graduate California State University-East Bay in 2016 and was fluent in Vietnamese
Riverside County Coroner’s Office reports Truong died Thursday afternoon at a local hospital after collapsing while at the festival on Sunday. However, initially the Coroner’s Office webpage stated, “suspected overdose of illicit drugs and alcohol may have been the cause of death.”
The Coroner’s Office has backed away from that and is now reporting an autopsy and toxicology tests will determine Troung’s exact cause of death.
It kind of dampers the fun, it’s kind of terrible. I’m sure people are going to do it again, and I hope it doesn’t happen,” said festival goer Princess Valencerina.
“It’s so easy to get excited about the party the music and anyone can just offer you anything and just go with the flow and you don’t know about the consequences,” said Santillan.
“I’m not really into that stuff, but I know its going to be around, you have to be careful,” said festival goer Michael Goward.
Indo Police says it’s working with organizers to keep drugs and alcohol out of the festival through security checks, but it’s up to festival goers to police themselves.
“The only thing that is left now is the choice of the public, the people themselves when they come to this festival is do you want to spend time enjoying festival or do you want to spend time being treated by medial staff or being treated by law enforcement and not be at the festival,” said Indio Police spokesperson Ben Guitron.
“Just be a little bit more responsible,” said Goward,
“As long as you take care of yourself and just hydrate, there should be nothing wrong,” said festival goer Migul Zarco.
The festival’s organizer, Goldenvoice gave us this statement:
“Last weekend a festival attendee suffered an apparent drug overdose. The individual was seen by on-site medical staff and later transferred to JFK Memorial hospital and later to Desert Regional Medical Center. We are saddened to learn the individual has died. We believe this to be an unfortunate but isolated incident. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends.”
This isn’t the first festival related death. In 2008 a camper was found dead at an off site camp ground and last year, a festival employee was killed while directing traffic.
