A terrible accident occurred at a local radio station in our home of Sacramento, California. 107.9, a popular station playing contemporary music, held a contest on their show which challenged contestants to drink as much water as possible without urinating during a live event.
The final winner, a woman by the name of Jennifer Strange, drank more than two gallons of water during the contest. Tragically, within hours of returning home, Jennifer died from water intoxication.
This instance did not occur without warning. During the contest, Jennifer spoke very slowly and complained of a headache and feeling lightheaded. Some people even called in to warn the two disk jockeys that people can die of water intoxication. The DJs stated that at the time they believed people were trying to sway the outcome of the contest and they brushed off the suggestions.
There is no information on whether Jennifer received any medical assistance at the scene of the event, but as she was found returning home by herself, it appears she was not seen by a doctor at the premises.
There are currently about 30 people that are bringing a lawsuit against the station that were in some way associated with the unusual contest. The lawyer of this group states that the company had specific policies that needed to be followed, but were not. The two disk jockeys, Steve Maney and Lukas Cox, state they believed that management had approved the game, although comments made by the station say this was untrue.
This case is indeed a tragic one. Negligence on part of the disk jockeys as well as possible negligence of the parent company itself will need to be investigated. If you or someone you love have been seriously injured due to someone’s negligence, please call our Law Offices.
Our condolences to the family of Jennifer.
For more information, please read the news article in the Sacramento Bee.