“Come on, try it…I dare you.” This was a quote from an episode of Criminal Minds (Risky Business) about a dangerous game called the “Choking Game.” The FBI team discovers the quote on a website that was used to convince teens to play that game. “It’s the ‘good’ kids high,” says one of the FBI agents. Many good kids may see this game as a innocent, harmless way to fit in.
In reality this game is not at all harmless.
When Sarah Pacatte was young, she was enticed into playing the game by kids from a different town. This game was called the Hyperventilation Game. She only did it once, unimpressed with the high it was supposed to give. She thought it was an unimportant part of her past.
Until it killed her son.
Gabriel Harry Mordecai was a twin. He was a very caring, active young man who loved every thing about his life and he was Sarah Pacatte’s son.
Gabriel had a older brother and a twin brother. He loved the outdoors and snakes. He was a honor student who wanted to go to college, then head to the Marines Special Forces. His idea of bliss was someday to retire and care for snakes.
That all changed when Gabriel began playing this game.
One day Sarah overheard her twin sons talking about the game. She told them to stop; it could kill them– thinking she was exaggerating– not knowing the game actually could.
A while later, while fishing with their older brother, Gabriel found a rope and started to chase Samuel around. He told him to stop and tried to convince him to throw the rope away.
Gabriel snuck the rope home.
Once inside his bedroom, he tied the grimy cord to his top bunk and wrapped it around his neck. He didn’t tie it–just loosely looped it. His brother discovered him and called frantically for his mother. Sarah rushed in and when she slipped her fingers underneath the rope, it fell away. The slight pressure had been deadly.
When he was found his twin, Samuel called 911 while his mom tried to do CPR. The following is a transcript of the 911 call:
“Hi, I have an emergency,” said Samuel overwhelmed in tears.
“Ok, what is your emergency?” the 911 lady said trying to keep calm.
“My little brother might be dead.”
“Your husband might be dead?” she said not understanding.
“No, my brother.”
“Your brother. Ok, is he there with you?”
“Uh, Uh, yeah.”
“Ok.”
“But we think he might be dead. I don’t know.”
“Ok, hold on a second. How old are you? How old are you?”
“Thirteen.”
“Ok, where is your brother at? Where is your brother at?” again repeating herself to try and get Samuel to understand.
“He’s in our room.”
“He’s in your room. Is he breathing? Are you there by yourself?”
“No, I’m with my mother.”
“Ok, I want you to stay on the line with me.”
“Ok, ok, I need you to get an ambulance right away.”
“Ok, why do you think he’s dead?”
“Because there’s a rope around his neck tied to a bunk bed and he’s all purple and stuff.”
“Ok, how old is your brother?”
“Thirteen, we’re twins.”
“Ok, you’re twins and he’s thirteen too?”
He died 18 days after he was taken to the hospital. He was just 13 years old.
In another part of the country, Kevin Tork was playing the same game. His parents described him as a boy that would do anything for anyone.
When walking his sister home, a truck drove past them and yelled something at them. The truck drove up a hill and turned around. The passenger had a knife, Kevin pulled his sister behind him and the car drove off.
Another time, Kevin and his family were having lunch downtown, a lady came to Kevin’s dad asking for money. He said that he would not give her money but offered his meal. Kevin pulled out a ten dollar bill that he earned mowing lawns and gave it to the lady. Though his parents said she would probably use it to buy drugs, Kevin believed that it would help her.
Monday, March 30, 2009.
Kevin took a belt for the bathrobe that he had gotten from his dad. He tied it around his neck. When his sister walked in to the room the Choking Game had taken affect. His heart was still beating, but he died on the way to the hospital. He was just 15 years old.
Both of parents have had to fight through a horrible tragedy.
“I think of him every minute, of every hour, of every day,” says Ken Tork.
Sarah Pacatte says the same of her son Gabriel.”I think of him all the time, he is still my boy,”
They both prayed heavenly and looked to God for help. Something they didn’t do, is crawl in a corner and give up. They have done everything they can to tell the horrors of this game.
Have you played the game?
Kevin Tork 
Gabriel Harry Mordecai
