Police Say Teenager Dies From Inhaling Freon

18 year old from Mt. Vernon died in what Saraland Police called a "huffing" incident

By: Steve Alexander | WKRG
Published: July 17, 2008

An 18 year old Mount Vernon teenager is dead after Saraland Police said he inhaled freon.
Police say Andrew Todd Harris died Tuesday afternoon.
They said Harris was with three friends outside a home in the 1600 block of Forest Avenue.
Freon is a chemical used as a coolant in cars.
Drug education experts said the phenomenon is called "huffing."
Police said they received a call that a person was in cardiac arrest.
They said an investigation found Harris was inhaling, or huffing, freon.
Lieutenant Danny Walker of the Saraland Police Department said, "The way we understand he (Harris) did it, he went to a truck that was parked in the yard, and the valve where you charge your air conditioning system with the freon. He used a stick or some other object to release the freon out of the system into a plastic bag, and then he sniffed it from the bag."
Cans of freon have warnings saying deliberate inhalation of freon can be dangerous and a person can die suddenly.
But drug education officials say victims can also suffer worse fates than death.
Mike Sullivan with the Drug Education Council said, "There are people that do the huffing that have permanent brain damage and live like a vegetable in a vegetative state for the rest of their years, and they could live 20, 30 years like that."
Sullivan said huffing is not unusual with other items like glue or gasoline.
He said, "Due to the lack of oxygen, there's a brief euphoric feeling they have."
But Sullivan said these chemicals are very unpredictable.
He said, "The first time could be the last time with this stuff."
Saraland police said one other person on the scene inhaled the freon once, but wasn't hurt.
Police said they've given the case the district attorney's office, but no charges have been filed as of now.