Boy Dies After Suspected Blackout Challenge Attempt Left Him on Life Support
On 4/14/21 at 5:04 AM EDT
A 12-year-old boy has died nearly three weeks after his family said he participated in a social media blackout challenge in which people choke themselves until they lose consciousness.
Joshua Haileyesus, of Aurora, Colorado, had been on life support since his twin brother found him unconscious on the bathroom floor on March 22.
The family believed he was trying to choke himself with a shoelace as part of a social media challenge, also known as the passout challenge, in which people film themselves holding their breath or asphyxiating until they lose consciousness and then post the video online.