Texas Teen Dies in Seat Belt Accident

Houston police say a 13-year-old boy apparently pretending to be strangled by a seat belt died when he got tangled in the safety device.

Police spokesman Victor Senties on Oct. 28 said the child’s death appears to have been an accident.

The name of the victim was not immediately released. Autopsy results are pending.

Senties told The Associated Press that the boy and a friend Monday night were riding in the back seat of a vehicle, being driven by the friend’s mother, in northwest Houston.

Senties says the victim wrapped a seat belt around his neck, pretending he was being strangled, when he started “choking for real, apparently he got tangled up in the seat belt.”

Police say the woman managed to free the teen, who was transported to a Houston hospital and pronounced dead.