Teenager Davis Cripe died after consuming a range of regular soft drinks. And the death was so unexpected that the schoolboy’s dad is now worried more kids could succumb to the same fate.

When one teenager died after consuming regular soft drinks, his dad couldn’t believe it. But he decided to use his grief productively and raise awareness of what caused his boy’s tragic death. Now, then, he has a stern warning for other parents.

Davis Cripe came from Richland County in South Carolina, and in 2017, he was a teenager like any other. He kept up with his studies but also had a passion for music, playing drums and the guitar.

The 16-year-old was transforming from a boy into a man right in front of his parents’ eyes. Heartbreakingly, however, they would never get so see their child grow into an adult, because in April 2017, tragedy struck.

One day that month, Cripe got up as normal and headed into school. But that afternoon, when the teenager was in art class, he began to feel lightheaded. Then, shortly afterwards, he collapsed on the floor, leading to an ambulance being called.

Paramedics rushed Cripe to the nearest hospital, but by the time his classmates left school that day, he’d died. It’s safe to say, then, that Cripe’s passing came as a complete shock, especially to everyone who knew him as a healthy and happy young man.

At first, his death mystified everyone, including his doctors. The teen had no underlying illnesses and had lived an active lifestyle. However, as Cripe’s schoolmates began opening up about the hours prior to his death, alarm bells started to ring.

A friend who was with the teen on the day of his death revealed that Cripe had consumed lots of caffeine. In fact, over a two-hour period, the teen had ingested one large Mountain Dew, a latte and an energy drink. And, his classmate added, he had “basically chugged” the last of these drinks.

Later, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts confirmed the speed at which Cripe had consumed the drinks had brought on a “cardiac event.” However, he added that the teen had been very unlucky.

“The same amount of caffeine on another day may have been right,” Watts said in a statement obtained by the Independent in May 2017. “You can have five people line up and all of them do the exact same thing with him that day, or even drink more, and it may not have any type of effect on them at all. That is what’s so dangerous.”

Put simply, then, Cripe consumed so much caffeine in such a short space of time that it caused cardiac arrhythmia. The condition prevents the heart from beating properly and in this case caused the teen’s organ to fail completely.

Understandably, the coroner’s findings proved very distressing to Cripe’s parents, Heidi and Sean. They never imagined something so readily available as caffeinated drinks could claim their boy’s life. And as a result, they struggled to come to terms with their loss.

“He was a great kid,” Cripe’s father told CBS News in May 2017. “He didn’t get mixed up in the wrong things. You worry about their safety, their health, especially once they start driving. But it wasn’t a crash that took his life. Instead it was an energy drink.”

And it seems that excessive caffeine consumption poses a greater risk than many people are aware of. Yes, according to Dr. David Agus, a medical expert for CBS News, highly caffeinated energy drinks put 20,000 people in hospital every year.

“The problem that we’re learning is that it’s not just caffeine, it’s the other stimulants that are in [energy drinks],” Agus explained. “In a cup of coffee, you may have over 45 minutes or 60 minutes. These energy drinks you’re having all at once. And so all the caffeine give this big peak in the body and that’s when bad things happen.”

Furthermore, the American Academy of Pediatrics agree that energy drinks pose a danger to health. Indeed, it has pointed out that many of the additives in such drinks have not been tested on children. And as such, the organization recommends that young people stay away from energy drinks completely.

It’s a stance that Cripe’s family have come to agree with. In fact, now, his father is keen to spread awareness on the dangers of consuming too much caffeine. If he can get the word out, he hopes that other families won’t have to suffer the same pain that they have.

Indeed, the bereaved father said that it was adults’ duty to warn youngsters about consuming too much caffeine. That way, children can make an informed decision on what they drink. “I stand before you as a brokenhearted father and hope that something good can come from this,” he said.

“Parents, please talk to your kids about the dangers of these energy drinks,” Cripe’s dad urged. “And teenagers and students, please stop buying them. There’s no reason to consume them, they can be very dangerous.”

According to Caffeine Informer – an online caffeine encyclopedia – healthy adults can ingest 400 milligrams of caffeine safely each day. That equates to about four cups of coffee. Alarmingly, figures from its database indicate that Cripe consumed close to 500 milligrams before he died.

With this in mind, then, coroner Watts added that it was all about enjoying drinks in moderation. “The purpose here today is not to slam Mountain Dew, not to slam cafe lattes, or energy drinks,” he told NBC News.“But what we want to do is to make people understand that these drinks – this amount of caffeine, how it’s ingested, can have dire consequences. And that’s what happened in this case.”