Some who attended former President Donald Trump’s rally outside Coachella on Saturday, Oct. 12, needed rides from sheriff’s deputies to get back to their cars amid reports of rallygoers being stranded in the dark miles from their vehicles after shuttle buses stopped running.
There also were reports of Trump supporters being overcome in the 90- to 100-degree desert heat as they waited for the 2024 Republican presidential nominee to speak.
Also, Trump suggested a heckler would get “the hell knocked out of her” during a speech that demonized migrants and threatened to withhold wildfire money from California if Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t abide by Trump’s wishes on water policy.
Buses ferried thousands of rallygoers from three off-site parking lots to the early evening rally at Calhoun Ranch just outside Coachella’s city limits. Trump, the Republican 2024 presidential nominee, started speaking shortly after 5:30 p.m. and wrapped up his remarks shortly before 7 p.m.
People on X, formerly known as Twitter, reported being unable to catch a bus from the ranch back to where they parked. The three lots — one at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio, another near the Spotlight 29 casino and a third near a gas station — were roughly 5 miles away from the venue.
“Apparently the buses are no longer coming,” a man said in a video posted on X by @58bugeye, which showed a line of people in the dark amid the flashing lights of Riverside County Sheriff’s Department vehicles.
Coachella mess
The venue where Trump held the rally is in the middle of nowhere and 5 miles from parking.
The cult was lured in with bus rides to get in to the venue and then abandoned when it was over.
This is the perfect metaphor for a Trump presidency.
Who has a slogan? pic.twitter.com/QkLKPlTrJv
— BlueDream (@58bugeye) October 13, 2024
“There used to be, like, 20 buses when we were being brought here, but now there’s only, like, three buses operating,” the man added. “It’s just chaos, absolute chaos. All of us are stranded here, everyone is stranded here.”
Since-deleted tweets from X account @WesleyxJohnson quoted bus drivers as saying buses had to drive half an hour to get refueled after all the local fuel sources were “completely depleted.”
“All buses have just called off!” another tweet from the account read. “Bus driver just got notified by (the California Highway Patrol) to stop picking up attendees! THIS MUST BE INVESTIGATED!!! PEOPLE ARE FREAKING STRANDED!!!”
Those stranded “were forced to either wait for alternative transportation or walk back on their own,” the Times of San Diego reported.
In an email, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said it “assisted some attendees in returning to their vehicles, including using their own vehicles to provide rides.”
Officer David Torres, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson, said via email that “there were no incidents in this area that CHP handled.”
“There became an issue with the drivers being over hours due to the traffic delays that prevented them from driving, leaving (the sheriff’s department) to transport the visitors themselves,” Torres said, noting that the California Department of Transportation limits the number of hours bus drivers can be on the road.
The highway patrol did not make contact with any drivers, Torres added.
“The Riverside County Sheriff Department advised CHP the bus drivers were over hours and asked if CHP could approve for them to work over their hours to transport individuals back to the pick-up point,” he said.
