16-05-2025
Osheaga drowning death was accidental, coroner finds
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The 2024 drowning death of an Osheaga festivalgoer was not suspicious, a coroner's report signed May 5 has found, but occurred 'in a context of 'magic' mushroom and cannabis consumption.'
Logan Christopher Brideau, a 20-year-old man from Listowel, Ont. — a community about 50 kilometres from Kitchener-Waterloo — died Aug. 4, 2024, after attending Montreal's Osheaga music festival. His body was recovered from the Olympic Basin in Jean-Drapeau Park hours after he had drowned, the report, written by coroner Jean Brochu, said.
The report didn't offer any recommendations.
It was not the first time an Osheaga festivalgoer had drowned. In 2018, an 18-year-old Ottawa resident drowned in the St. Lawrence River after being separated from his friends during a performance. The coroner's report investigating Collins Obiagboso's death found it to have been 'of traumatic nature,' but said the circumstances surrounding his death 'were not able to be determined.'
This latest coroner's report was more conclusive, reporting no traumatic or suspicious lesions were found on Brideau's body and classifying the death as accidental.
The 20-year-old came to Montreal with friends, Brochu said in the report. The day of his death, the coroner said Brideau had consumed 'magic' mushrooms — which can cause hallucinations — after arriving at the festival around 4:20 p.m. An Aug. 5 autopsy detected psilocin, a component of 'magic' mushrooms, as well as THC, low levels of alcohol and a prescription medication.
Shortly after 7 p.m., the report says Brideau told a friend he wasn't feeling well and lay down on the ground, later texting friends he wanted to return to the apartment. Brideau then threw up, before heading toward the Olympic Basin, which is typically used for kayaking and rowing competitions.
When friends went to find him, Brochu wrote they were met by police officers. A friend reported to police Brideau had been lightly hallucinating and was under the impression security staff intended to remove him from the festival. She also said Brideau had been very stimulated and wanted to get away from the crowd, the report said.
It took police hours to recover Brideau's body, finally removing it from the water at 11:06 p.m. By then, the report said first responders had no hope of resuscitating Brideau — his body was in rigour mortis, meaning he had died hours earlier.
The report ruled out suicide as a cause of death, noting friends reported no suicidal intentions and police hadn't found anything pointing to that possibility on Brideau's phone. It also noted Brideau knew how to swim.
Though conclusive in its finding of an accidental death, Brochu wrote a lack of witnesses means some details remain unknown.
'Without new witnesses, there will always be elements surrounding the circumstances of his death that will remain unanswered,' the report said.
