A 16-year-old high school student died last month after consuming an excessive amount of a caffeine, a South Carolina coroner said on Monday.
Davis Allen Cripe died on April 26 after drinking a large volume of Mountain Dew, a coffee, and an energy drink within a two-hour period. Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Cripe suffered an cardiac arrhythmia brought on by the stimulant.
No undiagnosed heart conditions were found during an autopsy. Watts said “you can have five people line up and all of them do the exact same thing with him that day, drink more, and it may not have any type of effect on them at all.”
Watts said Cripe “was totally against drugs, he was totally against alcohol.” Photos of Cripe show him brandishing crosses marked on his hands, a sign of the drug-free straight edge movement.
The boy’s parents were also present during Watts’ news conference. Cripe’s father Sean said “I stand before you as a brokenhearted father and hope that something good can come from this.
“Parents, please, talk to your kids about the dangers of these energy drinks.”
