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Old 03-24-2007, 09:51 AM   #1 (permalink)
analog
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Depressed man hangs himself live in webcam chat room...

Sad dad hangs himself on web

Quote:
A DEPRESSED dad hanged himself live on the web as some of the 50 people watching egged him on.

Divorced heavy drinker Kevin Whitrick, 42, broadcast his threat on chat site Paltalk two hours before he went ahead.

Then he set up a webcam, climbed on a chair, smashed a hole in a ceiling, tied a rope around a joist and his neck — and stepped off. Some thought it was a hoax until his face went blue.

Horrified Mark Griffiths, who watched him die, said: “Kevin was on the screen shouting, ‘I’ve had it, you think I am full of s***, not this time’.

“Some people were egging him. One guy shouted down his microphone, ‘F***ing do it, get on with it, get it round your neck. For f***’s sake. He can’t even do this properly’.

“Others were telling him not to go through with it. I saw it all and felt sick.”

Electrician Kevin — username Shyguy_17_1 — was in an ‘insult’ chatroom.

User Tim Bennet, 40, said: “A couple of people told me what he was planning. Then Shyguy_17_1 turned his camera on.

“He hung a rope over a joist and tied it around his neck. And then he did it.

“At first I thought it was a fake as you couldn’t see his feet, but then his face started turning blue. There were about 50 of us in the chatroom at the time.

“The mood suddenly changed, everyone was concerned for him and talked about calling the police.”

A moderator cut the feed. Cops broke into his flat in Wellington, near Telford, Shrops, but it was too late.

Locals said Kevin bought eight cans of Boddington’s beer from his local shop every night.

Ex-wife Paula said he had not fully recovered from a serious car crash last July. She lives nearby with the couple’s twins Lewis and Melissa, 12.

Last night she said: “Kevin was a loving father and family man. He was the life and soul of the party and loved by many.”

He is the first Briton to kill himself live on the web. In 2003, chatroom users goaded American Brandon Vedas, 21, into taking a drug overdose at home in Phoenix, Arizona.
One thing that really stuck out for me was the fact that the article seems to blame the asshats in the chat room. This is not to say they weren't goading him on, but her was in an "insult chatroom". Second, who would even believe something like that was ACTUALLY happening in front of them (especially since you couldn't see his feet) until you're presented with actual evidence (like his face turning blue)?

Do you really think that any blame could be placed on the people in the chat room, or do you think it was simply the wrong room for him to be in? I mean, he's an alcoholic and suffering from depression, and he went into a chatroom specifically for insulting people. He can't have expected sympathy, especially not on the internet in a random chat room.

Also, what do you think about the spectacle itself, a man who's so far gone that he wishes to kill himself in front of people who are impotent to do anything about it. Is it his last "fuck you" to the world, making 50 people watch him take his life?

I think he was in the wrong place for his state of mind, like going to a bar when you need to sober up. The people are asshats anyway, but really who is going to expect a person in everyday life to just go ahead and off themselves right there in front of you?

Last edited by analog; 03-24-2007 at 09:58 AM..
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