58 arrested at Burning Man, 23 percent above 4-year average
RENO — Authorities arrested at least 58 people at this year’s Burning Man festival in the Northern Nevada desert, a 23 percent increase from the previous four-year average.
The Reno Gazette Journal reports most were for misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, primarily drug possession.
The most serious was a felony sexual assault on Aug. 22, the first day of the counterculture gathering that wrapped up on Labor Day after attracting more than 70,000 people about 100 miles north of Reno.
One death was reported — a man who apparently died in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning.
An average of 47 people were arrested in each of the past four years, the most in 2017 with 57. Stepped up law enforcement pushed the number of arrests from six in 2013 and seven in 2014 to 41 in 2015.