My buddy Jason works with this young man’s mother. My heart goes out to her and I will keep her in my prayers.
Sept. 19, 2005 NewsChannel 19’s Amber Moody reports
It’s a game with several names like suffocation roulette, the pass out game and black out. It’s popular among young children because it gives them a 5 to 10 second high without using drugs, but it’s deadly.
The family of Johnathan Kelly found out last week.
“I’m grieving my heart out,” Darlene Kelly says. “I feel like a part of me has died.”
Darlene Kelly found her son Johnathan hanging by a belt from the shower curtain rod in their bathroom. She says you could tell he was playing the passing out game by his position.
“He could have stood up,” she says. “But because he passed out he choked after that.”
Doctors say it as an asphyxiation game where they get a high from suffocating to the point of passing out. Johnathan’s mom and dad talked with us because they don’t want it to happen again.
Michael Kelly says, “We had not a clue that there was anything like this that existed. We just don’t want anyone else to lay victim to this-an evil demented mind game.”
Some children who also go to Madison Crossroads say it’s a popular game, but most of the time it’s played with more than one person. On the other hand, parents we talked with had never heard of it.
Michael Kelly says, “If they could see their child laying in a coffin like I have for 3 days they would investigate like we’re going to.”
Experts say there are a few warning signs you can look for: marks on shower curtain rods, bed posts, weight bars anything a child could hang from. Most importantly they suggest just talking to your children about the deadly game.
amy garren
omg. i had no idea. that is horrible.