Officials: EDM festival leads to deputy having chunk bitten out of head, dozens of arrests – KGNS

HOLMES COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WTVY/Gray News) – An EDM festival in Florida led to more than 50 arrests and an injured officer.
Police in Ponce De Leon said Sol Fest, a music and arts festival held at Vortex Springs, saw open drug use, including a 17-year-old who was found unconscious from an overdose.
The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office implemented a foot patrol of the venue after multiple people were arrested for drug possessions ranging from mushrooms, ecstasy, cocaine, molly, marijuana and more.
On Monday, a deputy on foot patrol was attacked by an event volunteer, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities arrested the volunteer, James Michael Anderson, and charged him with aggravated assault on an officer and resisting arrest with violence.
According to the sheriff’s office, Anderson bit a chunk out of the back of the deputy’s head and attempted to grab the deputy’s gun.
The sheriff’s office made an image of the officer’s injuries available to the public, but it was not included here due to its graphic nature.
Investigators determined Anderson was under the influence of PCP, LSD, ketamine, mushrooms and ecstasy when the attack occurred.
Deputies used a Taser on Anderson during the attack and said he continued to fight until other deputies helped restrain him.
WJHG spoke with festival attendee Austin Boughner, who helped to keep the area clean by picking up trash. He said festival guests felt targeted by local law enforcement.
“I feel like their intentions here were different than intentions at other festivals I’ve seen police officers,” Boughner said. “I see a lot of collectives of police officers at festivals that are smiling and having fun, and they’re here to actually make sure people are safe not hunting us, and I feel like a lot of people in the festival felt they were being hunted instead of protected.”
Autumn Cromer, another festival goer, said she felt safe at the event.
“There’s always going to be positivity and there’s going to be negativity,” Cromer said. “It’s just part of how the world works and the universe works, you can’t have good without the bad. But for the most part the festival was nothing but like higher vibrational people, people loving each other and supporting each other.”
Along with the drugs and violence, WTVY also reports two Ponce De Leon schools were closed Monday due to traffic issues from Sol Fest.
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