A 23-year-old man who died from an apparent drug overdose after attending an electronic music festival in Daly City over the weekend has been identified as Anthony Mata, of Santa Clara.
Mata died at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, following the “etd.POP 2010” music festival Saturday night at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena said.
Seven other people were hospitalized after attending the festival due to apparent overdoses of the drug Ecstasy, according to Morena. Five were listed in life-threatening condition this morning and the other two are stable, he said.
Medical staff at San Francisco General Hospital, where the patients were taken, said the symptoms they saw were not typically seen in patients who overdose on Ecstasy, prompting authorities to suspect the drugs may have been tainted with an unknown substance.
The two people in stable condition told police they don’t know any of the other patients, and said neither purchased their drugs at the music event, according to Morena.
Officers arrested 68 adults and five juveniles for allegedly possessing or selling drugs at the annual music festival. The event lasted from 6 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday and had an estimated attendance of 16,500 patrons.
Police also seized 800 Ecstasy tablets with a street value of $16,000, and other drugs including LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. About $5,000 in cash was also taken, officials said.
Samples of the drugs confiscated are being examined by toxicologists at the Poison Control Center and San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Last year’s electronic music event netted the arrest of 76 adults and three juveniles, as well as the seizure of 901 Ecstasy tablets, marijuana, methamphetamine and more than $5,000 in cash, officials said.
