Organizers of a so-called “Redneck Rave” promised a days-long event of “mud, music and mayhem” — and they certainly delivered on the mayhem, after 48 people were charged at the drug-fuelled, fight-filled festival in Kentucky.
One man was impaled by a log that burst through the bottom of his vehicle, another man had his throat slit, a woman was choked out during a fight over a blanket and several people lost their fingers during the Redneck Rave, according to the Edmonson County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities arrested 14 people and charged 34 others with various offences during the event, which played out at the Blue Holler Off Road Park over the weekend.
Thousands attended the event and no one was killed despite the violence, local station WKNY reports.
Sheriff Shane Doyle said he expected the Redneck Rave to get out of hand because a similar event “overwhelmed” his deputies last year. He put his deputies on mandatory overtime, enlisted a slew of volunteer deputies and set up traffic checkpoints to try to keep it under control, he said. State police and wildlife officials also joined the effort.
“The first vehicle that came through, we found meth, marijuana, and an open alcohol container,” Doyle told the Lexington Herald Leader. “And then one of the occupants had two active warrants.
“We were like, ‘Well, this doesn’t bode well for the weekend.’”
Doyle said one man slashed his friend’s throat during an altercation at the rave.
“They were intoxicated, they got into a fight (and) one of them slit the other’s throat and then fled into the park,” Doyle said. He added that no suspect had been identified.
In a separate incident, a man allegedly strangled a woman during a fight over a blanket, the Herald Leader reports. Missouri resident Lancer Hodges, 29, is charged with strangulation, wanton endangerment and fourth-degree domestic violent assault in connection with the incident.
Doyle says a man was impaled by a thin log after trying to drive over it with a vehicle. The log pierced the floorboards of vehicle and plunged into his abdomen, Doyle said.
“When it tried to come out through his back it was stopped by a steel plate behind his seat,” Doyle said.
He added that paramedics left the log in place while they airlifted the man to hospital.
Many others were injured in minor mishaps at the event, the sheriff said.
“There were so many intoxicated people, we just decided, ‘If dispatch sends an ambulance in, we’re sending a deputy in with them,’” Doyle said.
Organizer Justin “Time” Stowers said the rave was “the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“We can definitely improve on a lot of things to make the one in October run a lot better,” he wrote in a celebratory Facebook post, making reference to an upcoming event he plans on holding.
“This was the biggest event we’ve ever done and with as many people and random things that popped up unexpectedly I feel like we all handled it very well.”
He added in a follow-up post that “everyone is recovering from their injuries.”
Stowers claimed on Facebook that some of the reports about the event were “lies” or “over exaggerated headlines.” He did not dispute the throat-slashing, the alleged strangling or the case of the man being impaled by a log.
“You know what they say,” he wrote. “No such thing as bad publicity.”
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