Greenbrier boy's death ruled drowning with Freon inhalation

A 15-year-old Greenbrier boy died Wednesday after he and another 15-year-old boy apparently inhaled Freon and got into a swimming pool.

Lt. Matt Rice said the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office received a call about noon Wednesday about two boys lying on the ground at a residence at Lovely Lane, off Highway 287 near Springhill. When investigators arrived, he said, one boy was not responsive, and the other was breathing but disoriented. A teenage witness had found the boys in an above-ground swimming pool and pulled them out, he said. Both were taken to Conway Regional Medical center.

Coroner Patrick Moore said Jesse L. Burks was pronounced dead at the emergency room at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday. He said Burks was on the bottom of the pool when the witness saw him and summoned a neighbor. The teenage witness and neighbor were able to get the other boy breathing, Moore added.

The teenage witness told investigators the boy who survived had a black plastic bag over his head, Rice said. Investigators discovered the boys were huffing Freon from the air conditioner unit on the back of the house, he said. The bag was tested by the Conway Fire Department, and it tested positive for Freon, he said.

"We don't know if they were just swimming and huffing at the same time or what," Rice said.

Moore ordered an autopsy and received the results around 4 p.m. Thursday. He said the death was ruled accidental, a drowning with Freon inhalation.

"He inhaled Freon to the point of passing out, slipped under the water and drowned," Moore explained.

Rice said, "(Kids) can get (their) hands on any of these household products. They don't think anything about it. When you inhale something, you don't know what's going to happen. Unfortunately, the outcome was the worst."

The boy who survived was treated and released at the hospital and was at home on Thursday, Rice said.

An account has been set up at First Security Bank in Greenbrier to help the families with their expenses.

(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)