Coroner: Student died of overdose

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

The Boulder City High School football player who died Aug. 31 after a night of partying and hanging out with friends at his apartment died from a cocaine overdose, the Clark County Coroner said this morning.

Since the death police have said Johnny Aquino, 17, probably died of an accidental drug overdose, but were waiting for official word from the coroner's office. Coroner Mike Murphy said this morning the death was accidental.

"He had a level of cocaine that was substantial enough to cause seizures, and those seizures killed him. They put him into cardiac arrest," Murphy said. The official cause of death was cocaine intoxication, he said.

The death shocked many in the small community next to the Hoover Dam. While some were surprised drugs may be such a problem in their city, others were more surprised that someone like Aquino may have been doing drugs before he died.

Aquino was the starting center on the varsity football team and an avid weight lifter who was the strongest teen at the school.

He was known by friends, family and acquaintances as a nice and pleasant student who said "hi" to everyone and was always quick to crack a joke, friends said.

Aquino was also a busy teen who balanced school, football, and work as a cashier at a restaurant at the dam. His parents thought he was so responsible they let him move into an apartment with a friend toward the end of the last school year, his mother said.

Boulder High Principal John Barlow said the death was tragic and has been felt by the whole community.

"Hopefully someone will be affected by this. Kids need to know that when drugs and alcohol are involved kids need to step away," he said.

Barlow, who was born and raised in Boulder City, said drugs are not just a problem for the schools, but for the whole community.

"It's been a problem ever since I can remember. It's a community issue," he said.

Barlow was also critical of the parents' decision to let their teen son live on his own.

"It's a tragedy that the young man was allowed to live on his own without parental supervision, and that other families overly trusted their children to associate with him because he was on his own."

Aquino's mother, Maria Mendoza, could not be reached for comment this morning. But in the days following her son's death, Mendoza said she decided to let her son move into an apartment because he showed he was responsible.

Aquino moved into an apartment on the 1300 block of Capri Drive, just a few minutes' walk from his family's apartment. Aquino, the oldest of six children, never missed a Sunday dinner with his family after moving out. Everything seemed to be going well, and Aquino still planned to join the Navy after high school, his mother said.

Mendoza also said that her son had two seizures when he was a toddler.

Murphy said it is difficult to say whether Aquino had a condition that may have played a role in his having seizures that night.

"But it was the cocaine that triggered the seizure," he said.

Barlow also said the coroner's determination that cocaine caused Aquino's death "only supports the action that the school took regarding the other students involved."

Four Boulder High students were disciplined for their actions during the hours preceding Aquino's death, though school officials including Barlow have refused to release any details.

Boulder City Police Sgt. Slade Griffin said no crminal charges have been filed and he doesn't expect any will be.

Griffin said the investigation will probably be wrapped up within a month.