No Charges in Water Intoxication Death
By Associated Press
Mon Apr 2, 7:31 PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Prosecutors said Monday they will not file criminal charges in the death of a 28-year-old woman who participated in a radio station's water-drinking contest.

The district attorney's office said the behavior of staff at station KDND-FM did not rise to the level of criminal activity.

"There were no observable indications or symptoms that Jennifer Strange was experiencing a serious medical emergency which would have required station employees to seek or administer medical aid to her," the district attorney's office said in a statement.

Strange died Jan. 12 after taking part in an on-air contest to see which contestant could drink the most water without having to go to the restroom. The coroner's office ruled that Strange died of water intoxication.

At one point during the contest, a listener who identified herself as a nurse called "The Morning Rave" program to warn the disc jockeys that the stunt could be fatal, according to an audio tape of the broadcast.

"Yeah, we're aware of that," one of the DJs responded.

Another DJ laughed: "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK."

Strange's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the station, which fired 10 employees following the death.

Now that the corporation is off of the hook watch for the civil lawsuits next! So the question is when this happens will the corporate attorneys be with them or kicked to the curb to fend for themselves?

At a minimum, Entercom should lose the license for that station. If it were up to me, I would dissolve their corporate charter.

No one held them down, and poured the water down their throat, there is a thing called personal responsibility.

Okay, I'll start peeing right now since I can't hold my pee. pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss... .piss....pisss...drip...drip... all done.

"Okay, I'll start peeing right now since I can't hold my pee. pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss... .piss....pisss...drip...drip... all done."

Somewhere in Sacramento, somebody thought that very moment might make great radio. The fact that the act of controlling your urine is really pedestrian never seemed to occur to them. The fact that somebody died to prove that fact, is still surreal.

That breeze coming from the south is the collective sigh of relief from Entercom-Sacramento's staffers. (However, my guess is this will change radio promotions forever, and that is probably a good thing.)

Sure, there's such a thing as personal responsibility. Jennifer Strange failed to exercise it and paid the price as a result.

However, there is also such a thing as social responsibility, especially when the entity in question is licensed to serve the public trust. In my opinion "serving the public trust" includes not putting your stupider listeners in mortal danger for the sake of ratings and cheap laughs.

I'm disappointed by the decision not to prosecute. I think a good case could be made for at least a charge of negligent manslaughter. I hope the civil penalty is sufficiently harsh to deter other stations from pulling similar stunts.

Enterscum rides again!

What good would prosecution do? Obviously the reality of someone dying from what was supposed to be a silly stunt would stop any reasonable person from repeating the activity. The lesson here is a result of the accident. No one should go to prison over it!

>> the reality of someone dying from what was supposed to be a silly stunt would stop any reasonable person from repeating the activity.

The same thing happened previously in a hazing incident at Chico State University, and at least one of the jocks admitted on-air to knowing this during the contest. "The reality of someone dying..." in Chico DID NOT STOP the jocks from continuing the on-air contest, in spite of receiving additional warnings. The perpetrators of this incident apparently were not reasonable people.

If the jock knew about the previous incident, I do think he think he should be prosecuted. That shows a huge amount of negligence.

Audio excerpts are still available at the following Sacramento Bee link: www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/kdndslides/

They admit more than once to knowing the possibility of someone dying, and just blow it off.

To clarify my previous statement, at one point in the recording is a mention of "...that poor kid..." and the rest of the sentence is unintelligible, but given the context of the conversation it could easily be inferred to be a reference to the person in Chico, which had previously been in the news in that region.