It was likely a choking game gone wrong that led to the death of an Ogallala boy last week.
According to Keith County Attorney Blake Edwards, preliminary autopsy results indicate the cause of death of 9 year old Tyler Evan Anderson is consistent with an accident or something known as the choking game – a practice in which kids asphyxiate themselves to gain a rush or high similar to a drug induced high.
According to GASP, or Games Adolescents Shouldn’t Play, hundreds of kids every year die from the choking game in the U.S. or are seriously injured due to self or other person inflicted asphyxiation.
The organization and law enforcement are finding that kids are trying to reach the rush on their own, sometimes with fatal consequences – as appears to be the case with Tyler Anderson.
Edwards does not expect charges to be pressed in the death of Anderson which occurred Wednesday night as the family, new to Ogallala, was unpacking. Services for the boy were held this morning in Ogallala.