Arrests down, hospitalizations steady at 2023 Stagecoach
Another Stagecoach country music festival is in the books, and officials say arrests related to the event were down from last year, while hospitalizations were about steady.
Intoxication, fake ID arrests common
While arrests were down 22% compared to last year's event, more people were arrested at the 2023 Stagecoach than at the second weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival a week earlier.
Police said Monday they also issued fewer citations this year at Stagecoach than at Weekend 2 of Coachella.
Information released by the Indio Police Department showed Stagecoach concluded with 98 arrests, 46 for "drug/alcohol/intoxication" and 49 for "false identification." One arrest was filed under "property crime" and two as "other."
Last year, there were 125 arrests at Stagecoach, while this year Coachella had 80 arrests in Weekend 2 and 102 in Weekend 1.
Meanwhile, there were 65 traffic-related citations at Stagecoach this year. That's up 3% from Stagecoach 2022, but was fewer than during either weekend of this year's Coachella festival.
Nearly all citations at Stagecoach were for the "unlawful use of a disabled person placard," with two for "parking in a handicap parking stall" and one listed as "other."
More: Coachella 2023: Police make fewer arrests but issue more traffic citations during Weekend 2
"With the assistance of our neighboring cities and local law enforcement partners, traffic congestion was kept to a minimum during camping load-in and campers settled in for the weekend festivities with no major concert-related incidents," Indio police in a press release.
80 people hospitalized
Indio's JFK Memorial Hospital, the closest hospital to the festival grounds, saw 80 patients it says were related to the festival over the weekend.
The hospital's medical director for emergency services said that number is "similar" to what it has seen in past years during Stagecoach. The hospital saw about 100 and then 90 patients respectively during the first and second weekends of Coachella, although the director noted those events typically have fewer attendees.
The director, Dr. Andrew Kassinove, said most people were being treated for issues related to either alcohol consumption or the heat, which exceeded 100 degrees all three days of the festival.
"It was hot this past weekend, and we saw a wide spectrum of issues, from mild to severe heat-related issues, which resulted in having to treat patients with IV fluids for dehydration," Kassinove said. "The heat can also exacerbate the situation when it comes to alcohol. We saw some serious alcohol poisoning, which can cause confusion, vomiting and seizures. It is a very serious situation.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Arrests down, hospitalizations steady at 2023 Stagecoach
