Fountain Valley Man’s Death Puts ‘Dead’ Concerts in Doubt

The future of Grateful Dead concerts at the Forum here is in limbo this week as representatives of the city, the arena and the rock band hold discussions about last month’s concert, after which a Fountain Valley teen-ager died in police custody.

The Grateful Dead have a city permit to perform Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at the Forum, but the group has not yet signed a contract for the performance, Forum spokesman Bob Steiner said. According to a lawyer for the teen-ager’s family, more than two dozen Grateful Dead fans have contacted him to say they witnessed the arrest of Patrick Shanahan, a 19-year-old college student from Fountain Valley, at the Dec. 10 Inglewood concert. The lawyer, Lawrence Trygstad of Los Angeles, who has been retained to investigate Shanahan’s death, said witnesses generally described the police behavior that night as “very aggressive and brutal.”

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is investigating police conduct during the arrest. Police say Shanahan was held in a chokehold after resisting arrest. An autopsy indicated that Shanahan died from neck injuries; multiple injuries and LSD intoxication were listed as contributing causes.

Police challenged suggestions that officers used excessive force.

Police made 24 arrests, most of them drug related, during the three-day concert.

“You’ve got several hundred people on hallucinogenic drugs at the same time,” Sgt. Harold Moret said. “There are four or five incidents happening at one time. Officers are running from one wrestling match to another wrestling match.

“In these wild fights, the officers were using whatever force was necessary with these guys that were blasted out of their minds on hallucinogenic drugs.”

Inglewood City Councilman Jose Fernandez said banning the Dead from the Forum “remains a viable option that must be looked at very closely.” But neither he nor other officials openly called for a ban on the Dead in Inglewood.

“It is unacceptable to have that kind of drug dealing and usage in public,” Fernandez said. “I will not tolerate it.”

Forum General Manager Claire Rothman, Police Chief Raymond Johnson, City Manager Paul Eckles and a Grateful Dead representative have been discussing the “advisability of the Grateful Dead playing here or not playing here,” Steiner said.