2 Students Dead, 1 in Coma After Odd Mishaps

Three tragic incidents this week have left two young people dead and one in a medically induced coma—the latter because his testicles were squeezed as a prank. To start with a sad fatality:

• Sixth-grader Alex Newsome died Friday while throwing batting practice at school in Wilmington, North Carolina, the Wilmington Star-News reports. Newsome was throwing from behind a protective screen, but leaned outside the net and was hit in the head by a ball. "There are no words to describe how we felt when we learned he was gone," said the mother of a boy who played with Newsome.

• Davon Jiggetts, 17, died yesterday when a pit bull chased him into traffic, where a car struck and killed him and the dog, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. His mother, described as "devastated," told WSB-TV that "he was almost home. He was almost home. He had one block, two blocks, he was almost home." The family is pleading for the dog owner to come forward.
• Finally, a 17-year-old Dublin boy had a heart attack Thursday when schoolmates jokingly yanked his scrotum on lunch break, the Irish Mirror reports. A teacher and one of the students applied CPR on the scene, and the boy was later placed in an induced coma. A source close to the family said they didn't consider the attack to be savage or malicious.

In another strange incident, read about a University of Chicago student found decomposing in his dorm room. (More fatal accident stories.)