'HUFFING' LED TO CRASH THAT KILLED UCF TEEN, COPS SAY

When a driver was hospitalized last year after he hit and dragged a
young motorcyclist to his death near UCF, authorities suspected he was
under the influence.

But a blood test for 20-year-old Malcolm Barnes showed no signs of
alcohol, even though it did detect marijuana in his system.
Investigators suspected there was more to his apparent intoxication.
Evidence showed Barnes was driving the wrong way down the street and
took no action to avoid the crash with Andrew Brannon, 19.

They later found two cans of compressed air in his
car.

Further blood tests revealed the Riverview resident was high on the
aerosol spray used to clean computer keyboards. The sprays are
harmless if used properly. But they contain difluoroethane, a chemical
that can result in an instant high -- or even death -- if sucked
directly into the lungs.

This practice is known as "huffing" or "dusting."

On Friday, Barnes turned himself in at the Orange County Jail, a black
shirt pulled over his head to duck television cameras. He was booked
on charges including vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter.

Florida Highway Patrol officials think this is the first case of its
kind in the area.

"We've never had a case like this before," said Trooper Kim Miller,
FHP spokeswoman.

Data released this year by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration showed that in 2005, 1.1 million kids huffed
household products, including furniture polish, dust remover and air
fresheners, to get high. Some died.

The devastating trend has forced businesses, including OfficeMax,
Office Depot and Staples, to require identification for purchases of
canned air and prohibits the sale to anyone younger than 18. But
oftentimes, children find a more convenient way to get their hands on
inhalants: in the cupboards of their own homes.

"This needs to be a concern for parents," Miller said. "We're talking
about a product that anybody who owns a computer might have in their
households."

Many adults have chosen inhalants as their drug of choice because it
doesn't show up on routine drug screens, said Harvey Weiss, executive
director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. Others fail to
realize that huffing can kill.

"A lot of people think that because it's called canned air, it's
regular air," Weiss said. "It's not."

Brannon's mother is now too familiar with huffing.

Not only did Judith Brannon learn Friday that Barnes was allegedly
high on aerosol dust remover when, authorities say, he mowed down her
son, but she said a neighbor died of the very same thing when her kids
were little. The idea that such "stupid things" could cost someone's
life would be harder to bear if it weren't for her faith in God,
Brannon said.

"I harbor no ill feelings toward this young man or his family," the
Winter Garden mother said. "We've chosen to forgive him.

"I'm sure [his family] had high hopes for this young
man."

Andrew Brannon was headed to a party at the University of Central
Florida when the crash occurred on Alafaya Trail north of Research
Parkway. He was studying business there and had already earned a real-
estate license, she said.

Judith Brannon and at least one of her sons plan to reach out to
Barnes' family and "share the love of Jesus," just as Andrew would
have wanted, she said.

Barnes' father escorted him to jail Friday, saying only that "God has
forgiven him." His son could face up to 15 years behind bars if
convicted of DUI manslaughter, Miller said.

In a similar case in Brooklyn, N.Y., a 20-year-old man was charged
with driving under the influence of drugs and vehicular manslaughter
in a crash that killed 17-year-old Kristina Roggio. But a loophole
could prevent Vincent Litto from facing those charges because the
chemical compounds in the aerosol he inhaled aren't outlined in the
state's DWI law, according to the New York Post. A trial judge threw
out the charge of vehicular manslaughter, and a four-judge panel of
the state's appellate division ruled that those charges couldn't be
applied in Litto's case.

Prosecutors plan to appeal that decision to New York's highest court.