A TikToker says that she was drugged while out at a bar in Austin, Texas on March 11. Her video comes after multiple women have taken to TikTok warning those in Austin for SXSW to be careful with their drinks when out at bars in the city.
Kara Halderman, a TikToker based in Austin, says that when she was with friends at bars on West 6th Street, she consumed a drink that a man had bought her, and she “blacked out instantly.”
“I really don’t remember anything,” Halderman says in her TikTok, which has almost 300,000 views. “I was sick the whole rest of the day, I almost went to the hospital.”
She goes on to say she was “so, so, so unwell” and that she has been “crying for five days.”
“It felt like I was seriously on my death bed,” Halderman says. “So please, please be careful.”
Halderman’s video stitched a TikTok from another Austin-based creator, Jenna Palek, who talks about how “numerous” women say they have been drugged while out in Austin during SXSW.
“It’s believed to be fentanyl,” Palek says in her TikTok. “There’s a lot of people here, there’s a lot of stuff going on, so just be mindful.”
In an email to the Daily Dot, Palek clarified that she was “not personally affected” by the surge in drink spiking.
“I just have a large platform that is mainly Austin based so I wanted to share the information,” Palek told the Daily Dot.
Palek’s TikTok also references a video from Austin-based TikToker @spacey_____casey, which has been viewed over 344,000 times, about drink spiking in Austin.
Casey says that a friend of a friend of hers said that her drink was spiked at a bar in Austin, and whatever was put into the woman’s drink was laced with fentanyl.
“The cops found her completely unconscious in the middle of the street and had to take her to the hospital,” Casey says in her TikTok. “It turns out that this is happening across kind of all the going out areas [in Austin.]”
Commenters on Casey’s videos shared that they had heard of similar incidents from friends.
“Happened to my best friend on 6th street at Blind Pig!” @nayellygonz commented. (The Daily Dot has reached out to the Blind Pig via Instagram direct message.)
“This happened to me yesterday on East 6th,” @lil_lumpiaaa commented. “I have 0 memories from yesterday and was violently sick for 12 hours.”
“I’ve lived in Austin for 4 years. Went out last Friday at the domain. Had 3 beers before and remember 1 shot at the bar. Pretty sure I was drugged,” @naomiorians commented.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Halderman via email, @spacey_____casey via TikTok comment, and the Austin Police Department via a contact form.
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