Entertainment

Limp Bizkit In Aussie Police Probe

July 19, 2001 / 3:58 PM EDT / AP

Police traveled to the United States on Thursday to interview rap-rock band Limp Bizkit as part of a coroner's investigation into the death of a teen-age girl during a concert earlier this year.

Jessica Michalik, 15, suffered a heart attack when she was caught in a crush during Limp Bizkit's Jan. 26 performance in Sydney. She died five days later.

Six other people were hospitalized after the touring multi-band event called the Big Day Out, which drew a crowd of 55,000.

Limp Bizkit pulled out of its Australian tour afterward and criticized concert organizers for providing inadequate security and safety measures, a claim organizers denied.

A police spokesman said Thursday that New South Wales state coroner John Abernethy had asked detectives to travel to the United States to question band members and management over the death.

"Two detectives attached to Strike Force Streatley today flew from Sydney to Los Angeles to interview management and members of Limp Bizkit," the spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.

"Streatley was set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Jessica Michalik at the Sydney Big Day Out on Jan. 26 this year," he added.

The detectives will report to the coroner upon their return from the United States, the spokesman said.

The coroner is investigating events leading up to Michalik's death. At the end of his inquiry, he can recommend charges be filed, but prosecutors do not have to act on the recommendations.