'Choking game' being learned online, says expert

A parenting expert from Windsor, Ont.,believes the internet could be teachingyoung peoplethe potentially deadly "choking game."

"I think deaths have increased because of directions on YouTube and kids doing it by themselves," said Win Harwood.

Shesaidthe choking game isn't new. Harwoodclaims it was happening as far back as 35 years ago.

However, she said the difference now is young people have access toinstructions on the internet and are playing the "game" by themselves.

Children don't think it's dangerous, according to Harwood.

"That's the key," she said. "That's why parents have to teach their kids that it is dangerous."

A Windsor area mother lost her son, Justin,to self-asphyxiation in 2011.

Annette Latouf was on her honeymoon when she learned of her son's death. Police originally called it a suicide, but Latouf believed otherwise.

When she returned home, she went through Justin's computer.

"He was looking at three things [the night he died]," Latouf said. "Motorcycles for sale. Apartments for rent. And the choking game."

Latouf also believes the internet plays a role in young people learning it.

"The internet is full of information for this," she said.

A funeral was held Wednesday morning for an 11-year-old Belle River girl who was an apparent victim of thechoking game.

Aja Chandler's family says she self-asphyxiated while alone in her bedroom.

Rob Duxter, a long-time friend of the family, said there is no way Chandler meant to kill herself.

"Knowing this family for most of my life, this is the most loving family I know. I don't believe that this was a possibility of a suicide. That this was just a tragic accident," Duxter said.

He said the choking game is a disturbing trend and more common than most parents realize.

"There's instructional videos of how to do it, and kids out there on the internet video-taping them and their friends performing this dangerous, dangerous game," Duxter said.

Duxter has started an online group to make people more aware of the activity.

"We just want her memory to last forever," said Aja's father, Joe. "And not keep this in the closet. Many of my friends did this when we were kids. Just kids doing stupid stuff. Maybe that's all it was with Aja. We'll never know. But we wantto do special things in her memory because she was a beautiful, beautiful girl."