Exclusive
BREAKING POINT
Spring Breakers seen wrestling and drinking as wild crowds descend on Fort Lauderdale beach after mass overdose horror
SPRING Breakers have been pictured wrestling and drinking as wild crowds have descended in south Florida to celebrate without Covid restrictions for the first time in two years.
The chaotic scenes come after six people overdosed on cocaine mixed with fentanyl - including several West Point cadets - during the wild celebrations in Fort Lauderdale.
8
8
8
8
All six people were rushed to local hospitals and one person has since been arrested in connection with the overdose, which occurred in a Florida vacation home, reports say.
Axel Giovany Casseus, 21, was arrested after allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover detective, according to reports.
One of the victims is intubated in the intensive care unit and in critical condition, according to officials.
A West Point spokesperson said: “The U.S. Military Academy is aware of the situation involving West Point cadets, which occurred Thursday night in Wilton Manors, FL.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"The incident is currently under investigation.”
Miami and Fort Lauderdale, known as "Spring Break Central," usually serve as the Spring Break destination for thousands of college students and tourists looking for a rowdy time.
From this weekend until early April, the state will see an unprecedented number of visitors, officials said on Friday, as The Sun's pictures exclusively revealed chaotic scenes of drinking and partying.
The reports that about 570,00 students will be on holiday at the same time in .
Most read in The Sun
Tampa's International Airport is already seeing passenger counts that exceed the same record-breaking dates in 2019, some by as much as 29 percent, according to the local news outlet.
In total, more than 39,000 travelers per day are expected to arrive at the Tampa airport during Spring Break.
“The 2022 spring break period, which runs through April 26, will see peak days that reach nearly 88,000 passengers and many that will exceed 80,000 — a very strong comparison to 2019 spring break, which beat all prior airport records,” the airport said in a statement.
In comparison, 2021 saw about 65,000 passengers per day at most, and in 2020, some Spring Break days saw as few as 1,500 passengers a day.
In Miami officials also expect to see much larger numbers of tourists.
"We absolutely expect at least double if not triple what we saw last year as far as attendance," Fort Lauderdale Police Maj Bill Schultz told NBC Miami.
Read More on The US Sun
Due to the chaos of previous years, officials have implemented new rules this year, banning tents, coolers, and any other folding furniture from the sand, as well as loud music and speakers.
Additionally, electric or motorized scooters are banned until further notice.
Meanwhile, police did not release further details following the announcement of the arrest late on Friday evening in connection with the Florida vacation home mass overdose.
Six people overdosed, with two remaining in nearby hospitals in critical condition and on ventilators as of Friday night, according to multiple media reports.
OVERDOSE TRAGEDY
First responders found the group on the front lawn of their short-term vacation rental on Thursday night, according to Florida officials.
In a statement to The , a West Point spokesperson confirmed that five of the six overdose victims are cadets, adding they're "aware of the incident."
Investigators said that the home had been full of spring breakers when the group started doing drugs at one point, leading to the overdose.
“We are being told that four of those people had taken a substance that was believed to be cocaine laced with fentanyl when they went down into cardiac arrest,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan.
TAINTED SUBSTANCE
Two friends of the four people that overdosed began to perform CPR on the four as they went into cardiac arrest, which in turn exposed the friends to the dangerously potent drug.
Narcan was deployed to the victims as quickly as possible, according to Gollan, who called the incident "extremely alarming to us."
Four of the men were transported to Broward Health Medical Center, and the two others were taken to Holy Cross Hospital, according to reports.
'EXTREMELY ALARMING'
Neighbors described the scene to NBC6 with one saying, "We saw paramedics pulling the kids out of the house, unconscious, just laying them on the grass."
The Wilton Manors Police Department posted a from their official Twitter account to "warn spring breakers about the dangers of using illicit drugs & to avoid mixing drugs with alcohol or other forms of drugs.
"Protect yourself from the dangers of Fentanyl."
Protect yourself from the dangers of Fentanyl.
Wilton Manors Police Department
"These are healthy young adults, college students in the prime of their life," Gollan said.
"Getting this drug into their system, it’s unknown what the recovery will be on the critical individual."
Local authorities are worried that the batch of drugs that the spring breakers obtained could have been sold to other partiers.
“It brings great concern there could be more ODs over the next couple of days, just basing what we are seeing with the fentanyl we saw that was here this evening,” said Gollan.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
West Point did not immediately respond to The Sun's request for comment. This investigation is ongoing.
8
8
8
8
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at [email protected] or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at
Topics