"We lost Davis from a totally legal substance," Richland County coroner Gary Watts said
Excessive caffeine caused the death of a 16-year-old high school student in South Carolina, who died after collapsing in a classroom last month.
The investigation into how Davis Allen Cripe died found that he was healthy prior to his passing on Apr. 26, and didn’t use alcohol or drugs, reports WIS-TV News.
“This was not an overdose. We lost Davis from a totally legal substance,” Richland County coroner Gary Watts said at a press conference Monday. The probe determined that Cripe died from a “caffeine-induced cardiac event” after drinking various caffeinated beverages, including an energy drink.
Read More: How Much Caffeine Can You Safely Consume?
“It was so much caffeine at the time of his death, that it caused his arrhythmia,” he said, according to WIS-TV.
“Like all parents, we worry about our kids as they grow up,” Cripe’s father Sean said at the press conference. “But it wasn’t a car crash that took his life. Instead, it was an energy drink.”
Watts warned youngsters and parents to “be very careful with how you use them, and how many you drink on a daily basis.”
Severe caffeine overdose symptoms include vomiting, high blood pressure, palpitations and seizures, according to the National Capital Poison Center. Abnormal heart rhythm is also listed as a symptom of excess caffeine by the National Institute of Health, which advises minors to limit their intake.