Family shares tragedy to warn others
By ELIZABETH FISHER
Bucks County Courier Times
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP - David Taylor Sr. thought the worst day of his life was Feb.
11, the day his 21-year-old son was found dead, hanging from the hook of an
engine-block hoist in the family's auto repair shop.
A close second came last week, when the 44-year-old father of three received
the medical examiner's report, which cited David Jr.'s cause of death as the
“unintentional consequence” of autoerotic play.
Taylor said police used the term choking game, which uses the same methods —
cutting off oxygen to the brain — but for different results. The choking game
leads to a head rush once oxygen is restored, while autoerotic activity is meant
to intensify sexual pleasure.
Taylor said he'd never heard of either term and would never have believed that
his son — “a kid who smiled and laughed since the day he was born” — would be
the victim of such activity.
Deepening his sorrow is the fact that the elder Taylor's girlfriend's
8-year-old son, Brandon, found David Jr.'s body, and that Brandon's mother,
Joanne Hulsizer, had to help David Sr. take down the body by removing the belt
the young man had wrapped twice around his neck before looping it over the hook.
It's a scene that plays over and over in the family's mind, like a movie reel
gone mad. Sitting in the living room of their Bristol Township home on a recent
afternoon, Taylor and Hulsizer seemed to shrink into the sofa cushions as they
tried to come to grips with the tragedy.
Even in their grief, the couple decided if nothing else, they would try to
reach out to let other kids know the danger of autoerotic or “choking” games.
“It's still so fresh in my mind. I don't know how to cope or what to do. It's
just so hard,” he said.
And Brandon, who at first sight seemed like an average 8-year-old as he told
his mother he was going to a friend's house, has a hard time coping.
“He thinks about it. He has good days, but he also has bad days. Sometimes
he'll get to school, and then he'll just start crying,” Hulsizer said.
Part of that is the scene he stumbled upon when he found David Jr., and the
rest is grief for a close “buddy,” Hulsizer said.
The nightmare began with hurried preparations for an expected snowstorm. It
was just before noon and a sprinkling of flurries had began to dance across the
windshield as Taylor Sr., Hulsizer and Brandon drove to the auto shop in
Fairless Hills so the elder Taylor could fix his snow plow.
DisplayAds ('Middle'); “David [Jr.] had gone out drinking the night
before, but hadn't come home, so I thought he'd gone off with his friend. The
worst thing is, I gave Brandon the key to the shop and asked him to get me a
tool,” Taylor Sr. said.
Moments after Brandon ran into building, the little boy ran out, screaming
something about “David.”
Taylor ran inside, thinking his son — who had been set to take over the
business operations —had been trapped while working under a car.
“I went in expecting to see a lot of blood. Instead, I saw my son upright,
with his eyes open. I thought he was just standing there, but then I realized
his feet weren't touching the floor, and my life and my energy went out of me,”
Taylor said.
The rest of the day was a blurred fast-forward: cops, the ambulance, stunned
disbelief. Later, there were funeral arrangements, and then the burial of the
young man who made friends easily and loved souped-up cars.
Since David's death, Taylor Sr. said he has met grief's terrible companion,
financial hardship. It's difficult to go to the shop where his son died, so
business is declining and the bills are overdue.
The family was further traumatized when David's car was unexpectedly
repossessed. The 1995 Cadillac Deville was David's only legacy, and the “repo
man didn't care” that the car's owner had died just days before, his father
said.
It seemed to take superhuman strength for Taylor Sr. to talk. He constantly
rose from the couch, walked a tight circle, and then fell back onto the
cushions. Despite his anguish, he still found the words to issue a warning.
“For a few minutes of a high, it's not something to risk your life with. This
game is no different than playing with a loaded gun,” Taylor said. “The pain you
leave behind is unbearable.”
Elizabeth Fisher can be reached at 215-949-4173 or lfisher@....



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please visit Jason's memory site:
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Birthday; page 3 His last years and death










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