The Hanging Child - a Horrible Trend Leads to an Equally Horrible Accident

On November 24, 2010, Twan'ya Boyd was pronounced dead at her Crestview Avenue home in Lakeland, Florida by emergency medical responders. Boyd was the victim of asphyxia due to hanging, a hanging which involved her own belt. The coroner's office ruled that Boyd's death was, most likely, accidental.

Twan'ya Boyd was nine year old at the time, the victim of playing 'the choking game' gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I'd heard of people playing 'the choking game' before; I have two daughters in their early twenties, I read voraciously, and recall at least one celebrity - Dennis Hopper - who had (allegedly) died, naked and alone, in a New York City hotel closet, having taken part in a solitary 'choking game' for a sexual high. An individual dying an accidental death while getting their 'high' in the 'choking game' is, sadly, not particularly newsworthy - unless that victim is a nine year old girl.

Nationwide, from the years 1995 through 2007, there were a reported 82 'probable' deaths from choking involving victims aged six through nineteen years old (and that doesn't include those deaths which went unreported as such). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that this 'game' goes by a variety of names, usually tied into geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds: "pass out", "fainting game", "scarf game", "dream game", "space money", "flat lining" (Julia Roberts was one of the stars in the film 'Flat Liners', which followed a group of medical school students using medical equipment to 'flat line' themselves and experience a high, with horrific results), and "California choke".

The 'game' involves the player rendering themselves unconscious using a scarf, belt, rope, etc. tightly wrapped around their neck. Pressure is then released, and a secondary high of the oxygen and blood rushing back to the brain takes place. Actually, according to the CDC, two 'highs' can be achieved, the first being a state of light-headedness as a result of the lowered blood and oxygen flow to the brain, followed by the release of pressure on the player's neck, causing so powerful a surge of blood through the carotid arteries back into the brain.

The Lakeland, Florida police report on Boyd's death indicated that the child had been known to take part in the 'choking game' in the past, according to witnesses. Since Twan'ya, who was African American, died in her own home, the assumption is that family members knew that the little girl had been and was doing this activity. The police report further stated that by releasing exactly how Boyd died, the hope was to prevent other children from engaging in this trend, which is usually performed in secrecy.

Twan'ya Boyd's family knew that she played the choking game. Most likely, so did at least some of her friends. She had had to learn how to play it from someone, somehow. She had learned what a 'rush' felt like from playing it before.

How on earth does a child in elementary school learn about playing the 'choking game'? Who taught a nine year old girl how to get 'high' by tying a scarf or a belt around her neck? If you knew your child had done this before, even just once, why didn't anyone stop her, or talk with her about the consequences of her actions? Why wasn't she stopped searching for that elusive 'high' by a parent, a guardian, a friend, a teacher...

I am at a total loss for the answers to any of those questions. I am still slightly reeling from the fact that it could have even happened in the first place, especially to a little girl.

My only hope is that perhaps, hopefully, someone will read this article and it will strike a nerve with them. Maybe their own child, or a friend of their child, or the son or daughter of a neighbor, has been playing the choking game. Maybe the child has been locking themselves into their room, alone or with a friend, for hours on end after having searched the house for a belt or a scarf. You hadn't given that strange set of circumstances much thought until now...

It doesn't have to be a child doing this to draw your concern. Perhaps it's your room mate, your best friend, even your spouse...whomever it may be, don't let this behavior go unnoticed. Take action - ask questions, even though they won't be easy ones. Talk to this person, or better yet, listen for as long as necessary, and then get them to a doctor or medical facility for the help that they so desperately need. Someone's life is dependent upon you being alert, being there for them, and doing the right thing...