Police in West Quebec say an out of control party Halloween night nearly cost some young people their lives.
They are now investigating three sexual assaults and say several teens were unconscious at an event called Spookland held at Mont Cascades.
By all accounts it was a chaotic scene; one-thousand young people, many severely intoxicated on arrival; nine sickened by alcohol or a combination of drugs and police investigating at least three cases of sexual violence. Those nine kids were all between the ages of 15 and 17. So drunk or drugged they passed out.
Police now confirm one girl was slipped the "date rape" drug and may have been sexually assaulted. For many young people, Spookland was billed as "a night to remember." Sadly, it will be a night many want to forget.
‘This year it was out of control,’ says Grade 11 student Andi Polak.
‘Some girl had a seizure and it was insane,’ adds Grade 11 student Emaly Yablonski.
‘She was twitching and they couldn’t get her to respond,’ adds Grade 11 student Jackson Brazeau, who knew the girl, ‘So they sent her to the hospital and hooked her up to an IV.’
When MRC des Collines police arrived Friday night to the Spookland Party at Mont Cascades, they say there were so many kids sick, on the ground, on the buses, that they had to concentrate on only the worst of them. Nine were unconscious, all young students between 15 and 17 years old.
‘On Saturday afternoon, one boy still in ICU,’ says Cst. Martin Fournel, ‘because he was six times over limit of alcohol in his system. He could have died.'
Police are also investigating three sexual assaults. A 17-year-old girl who was inappropriately touched, another young woman who just came forward to police hours ago and a 16-year-old girl who was found half naked, drugged with the date rape drug.
‘Something went really wrong in organizing that party,’ adds Fournel.
This is the third year the promoter ‘I'm with the DJ’ has run Spookland. Mont Cascades simply rents out the space. Students who went last year say it wasn't nearly as crowded or as crazy as it was this year.
Highschool students Jackson Brazeau, Emaly Yablonski and Andi Polak were reps for Spookland at their highschool, selling $40 tickets to friends. They say the problems appear to have started on the buses to Mont Cascades.
‘What they should do is search you before you get on the bus but they just say no drugs or alcohol but let people on,’ says Brazeau.
No one from Mont Cascades or Spookland would talk today but in a message to CTV, the promoter ‘I’m with the DJ said ‘students arrived heavily intoxicated. They had somehow behaved well enough to make it onto the buses but upon arrival, were found to be seriously unwell.’
‘Spookland was supposed to be a fun time for everyone for Hallowe’en,’ adds student Andi Polak. ‘It just sucks that it got so out of hand.’
