Local family joins crusade to end the choking game
December 1, 2009
Kevin Tork
Stepping onto the stage at Chimacum Middle School in Chimacum Oct. 13, Ken Tork took a deep breath and began saving lives by confronting a deadly game.
Students throughout the state, nation and the world are playing the choking game and Tork said he knows two things about it: That it’s not a game and that it has deadly consequences.
Tork, his wife Kathy, and 11-year-old daughter Kelly Tork know all too well the game’s deadly consequences. The couple lost their only son, Kevin, a 15-year-old sophomore at Issaquah High School, to the game March 30.
Kevin’s death is the reason Ken Tork was called to Chimacum. On Oct. 7, medics arrived to care for a student who’d passed out after being choked by a friend before a third-period class.
Students play the game to get a high, which occurs when their brains are deprived of blood and oxygen. Read more
Off The Press
May 12, 2009
Friends had much to say about Kevin Tork
Greg Farrar
“Hey Kevin, I am so glad to have had the chance to have you in my life. You were such a blessing to me and all those around you. You’ve been there for me through so much.”
That is just one of the many notes on cards and letters delivered to Ken, Kathy and Kelly Tork last month after Kevin, 15, their son and brother, died playing a “game” that’s not really a game at all, but a treacherous and risky activity known on the internet as the choking game. Read more
Choking is not a game
April 28, 2009
Grieving parents share their heartache, lessons with others
Kevin Tork earned good grades in school and hung out with his friends. Most recently, he fell in love with poetry and had begun writing, completing six chapters in a book he called “The Mark.”
But on March 30, Kevin’s life ended at age 15 while he was playing what is known as the choking game.
Kathy Tork mourns the death of her 15-year-old son, Issaquah High School student Kevin. Kathy and husband Ken are certain he accidentally strangled himself while playing the choking game. By Greg Farrar
Choking game flirts with disaster
April 28, 2009
Adolescents are playing a deadly game by choking themselves to get high. Read more
Kevin Conroy Tork
April 13, 2009
Kevin Tork
Kevin Conroy Tork, of Bellevue, died Tuesday, March 30, 2009, at home. He was 15. Read more
Second student death shakes high school
April 6, 2009
School counselors reported to Issaquah High School March 31 after school officials were notified that Kevin Conroy Tork, a 15-year-old sophomore, had died in Seattle.
Second student death shakes Issaquah High School
April 1, 2009
NEW — 6 a.m. April 1, 2009
School counselors reported to Issaquah High School Tuesday after school officials were notified that Kevin Conroy Tork, a 15-year-old sophomore, had died in Seattle.
Bellevue Police responded to the call, but the case is still under investigation, said Greg Grannis, the department’s public information officer.
The cause and manner of death is pending, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
