On the first night of her holiday vacation , 17-year-old Shelby Allen spent the evening with her friend Alyssa. When Shelby asked her parents to spend the night at Alyssa’s house, they willingly agreed, but they had no idea an innocent get-together would turn into a devastating tragedy. Shelby and Alyssa had just returned from getting food when Alyssa got a text message from a friend named Jane. Jane mentioned in the text message that she and her family were drinking. Shelby and Alyssa went to Jane’s house to hang out, and before Jane’s parents went to bed around 1:00 a.m., they warned the girls not to drink any alcohol.
The girls didn’t listen because, according to reports, at approximately 1:08 a.m., Shelby had taken her first shot. Alyssa reported that Shelby’s goal was to take a total of 15 shots by the end of the night. About 50 minutes later, Shelby had reached her goal and immediately fell ill. Her friends took her to the bathroom where she became unresponsive and started convulsing. Jane tried texting one of her male friends for help, but he wasn’t able to come over. Shelby’s friends decided to prop her head up on the toilet and continued to check on her until they fell asleep.
In the morning, Alyssa woke up and went to check on Shelby. She found her friend slumped over the toilet seat with her face covered in blood. Her neck was so badly bruised from hanging over the toilet seat that it looked like she had been strangled. Alyssa screamed for help, and Jane’s older sister called her father. When he saw Shelby’s condition, he immediately called 911. EMTs arrived on the scene shortly after, and although they were able to find a slight pulse, they were not able to revive Shelby. She was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:40 a.m. on December 20, 2008. The amount of alcohol in her system was equivalent to that of an eight ounce water bottle. Shelby’s parents were able to understand what happened that night through the texts on her phone, and Shelby’s mother, Debbie, felt that the Shelby’s friends were negligent the night she died. She has since dedicated her life to educating young adults about the dangers of binge drinking and advocating for more strict underage drinking laws.
“What a terrible tragedy and I am so sorry for your loss. Just 5 min. ago, I read the article on MSN regarding her story. As a mother of 2 boys (14 & 11) it frightens me that this too can happen to the best of kids. I commend Debbie and family for sharing her story with others and spreading the message about the consequences of binge drinking. What a wonderful and courageous act and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to to do.” – RPN Julien
