Teen dies after parents force him to drink alcohol

As the old adage goes, too much of a good thing is bad for you. Like too much sweets can lead to diabetes and high blood sugar and too much salt can give you kidney stones.

Some parents use this philosophy to teach their children about vices. Some, for example, make their children smoke at a young age when they don’t think it’s cool yet. Sometimes, the results are successful. The children are disgusted by the taste and feel of a cigarette which makes them never want to touch the stuff again in the future.

In Wyoming, USA, the mother and stepfather of 16-year-old Kendall Balls tried this type of parenting, this time with alcohol. The couple claimed they were trying to teach their son “a lesson about alcohol,” but unfortunately, it was the lesson that killed the boy.

Prosecutors say Kendall died of acute alcohol poisoning after joining his stepfather Joseph Richardson and a friend for a drinking session. Kendall’s mother, Paulette Richardson, told investigators that he drank a few shots of Fireball whiskey and a few shots of Jack Daniels over a two-hour period before going to bed at 10:30 pm. When his stepfather checked on him at around 3:45 am, Kendall was found unresponsive.

The coroner says Kendall had a blood alcohol content of 0.587—more than seven times Wyoming’s legal limit for an adult. Blood alcohol is the percentage of ethanol in the blood. According to the website Be Responsible About Drinking, the following is the blood alcohol content (BAC) and the effects it could cause:

• 0.02-0.03 BAC: No loss of coordination, slight euphoria, and loss of shyness. Depressant effects are not apparent. Mildly relaxed and maybe a little lightheaded.
• 0.04-0.06 BAC: Feeling of well-being, relaxation, lowered inhibitions, sensation of warmth. Euphoria. Some minor impairment of reasoning and memory, lowering of caution. Exaggerated behavior and intensified emotions.
• 0.07-0.09 BAC: Slight impairment of balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing. Euphoria. Judgment and self-control are reduced, and caution, reason and memory are impaired, .08 is legally impaired and it is illegal to drive at this level.
• 0.10-0.125 BAC: Significant impairment of motor coordination and loss of good judgment. Speech may be slurred; balance, vision, reaction time, and hearing will be impaired. Euphoria.
• 0.13-0.15 BAC: Gross motor impairment and lack of physical control. Blurred vision and major loss of balance. Euphoria is reduced and dysphoria (anxiety, restlessness) is beginning to appear. Judgment and perception severely impaired.
• 0.16-0.19 BAC: Dysphoria predominates, nausea may appear. The drinker has the appearance of a “sloppy drunk.”
• 0.20 BAC: Felling dazed, confused or otherwise disoriented. May need help to stand or walk. If you injure yourself, you may not feel the pain. Some people experience nausea and vomiting at this level. The gag reflex is impaired and you can choke if you do vomit. Blackouts are likely at this level so you may not remember what has happened.
• 0.25 BAC: All mental, physical, and sensory functions are severely impaired. Increased risk of asphyxiation from choking on vomit and of seriously injuring yourself by falls or other accidents.
• 0.30 BAC: Stupor. Little comprehension of one’s whereabouts. The possibility of passing out suddenly and becoming difficult to awaken.
• 0.35 BAC: Coma is possible. (This is the level of surgical anesthesia.)
• 0.40 BAC and up: Onset of coma, and possible death due to respiratory arrest.

At his young age, it is no wonder Kendall had passed away, for even a full-grown man with a level of o.40 BAC could die as well.

His mother and stepfather were charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in the state.

During the trials, the couple was asked why they did such a thing. The couple responded that they had wanted Kendall to get “sick” because he had already been expressing the desire to drink at the age of 13. They had wanted to stamp out his desire by making him so drunk that he would become sick.

Despite the good intentions of the couple, however, poor decisions such as this led to something far worse.