Burgess Funeral Home

We miss him,” said Garrett Pope, in a Facebook post about his oldest son, Garrett Pope Jr., who died Wednesday afternoon at his home in the Legacy Park subdivision.“I know there are a lot of rumors out there (as) to what happened and my family would like to share some words of caution…. He was so young and impressionable, he didn’t know what he was doing and made a terrible mistake.”Jennifer Collins of the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office said late Friday that Garrett Pope Jr. died from accidental asphyxiation.Asked if Garrett’s death was caused by the Choking Game, Collins said, “It is still under investigation, but that is where we’re leaning.”“When you look at the Choking Game and all the circumstances that surround it, this is almost textbook,” said Tony Broome, the county’s deputy coroner. “This case requires a full investigation and everything that accompanies it.”  Garrett was a sixth grader at Indian Land Middle School.Lancaster County School District spokesman David Knight said its administrators plan to discuss the matter in depth in the upcoming days.“We have been made aware of these parents’ concerns and will investigate this to take every step possible to address their concerns in an effort to protect all of our children,” he said.    A deadly online craze, the Choking Game has a wide range of other names including Passout, Five Minutes in Heaven, Blackout, Good Kid’s High and the Knockout Challenge.The purpose of it is to stop the flow of oxygen to the brain and induce a brief, lightheaded euphoria.The Choking Game is thought to be responsible for more than 1,000 deaths since 1934, though it may be more widespread, according to GASP, an advocacy group trying to stop to the activity. Statistics on it, GASP says, are difficult to track because many of the cases are reported as suicides.Collins was unsure if there had been any other similar deaths of children in the county and said the coroner’s office would have to research records to find out.Judy Rogg, whose 12-year-old son, Erik Robinso...

He loved playing with his friends, riding his bicycle, going fishing and playing football and lacrosse.He also was an impressionable boy, and that led him to make a mistake that cost him his life, according to his father, Garrett Pope, Sr.His son died while playing “The Choking Game,” in which youths cut off their airways in an attempt to get a sense of euphoria. Pope said he doesn’t know where Garrett would have learned about the game, and said he doesn’t want any other parents to experience what his family suffered.“Whatever we can do to prevent this from happening to anybody else, that’s the goal,” Pope said in an interview Saturday, explaining why he felt it important to speak publicly about the incident.“We don’t know how we’re going to go about doing that, because the wound is very fresh, very painful,” he said. “But that’s what we’ll be doing moving forward.”Officially, the young boy died due to accidental asphyxiation Wednesday afternoon, according to the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office. An autopsy was performed Thursday and the case is still under investigation, according to Deputy Coroner Tony Broome. Broome said the boy was found in his room around 4 p.m. Wednesday.Pope wrote in a public Facebook post that he and his wife, Stacy, looked through the family’s tablets and computers and found no sign of Garrett researching the game.The family is holding a service Tuesday at Burgess Funeral Home, 1800 Charlotte Hwy, in Lancaster. Viewing is 4 to 6 p.m. and the service will be held from 6-7 p.m.Previous victims of the game have been reported to have tied ropes around their neck or to have asphyxiated themselves with a towel or dog collar. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a 2008 study that the game may also be known as “the blackout game,” “pass-out game,” “scarf game,” or other names.A 2008 CDC study noted that the “choking game” was defined as self-strangulation or strangulation by another person with the hands or a noose to achieve a brief euphoric state caused by c...