Man choked to death during hot-dog eating contest

Walter Eagle Tail

 Fourth of July celebrations got off to a bad start when a South Dakota man choked to death while participating in a hot dog eating contest.

Walter Eagle Tail, 47, was competing with five others at an even organized by the Custer Chamber of Commerce at a local city park. The speed-eating contest was the start of Fourth of July weekend festivities, and one they’ve held for the last several years.

Witnesses say that once people realized Eagle Tail was choking on a hot dog, paramedics were called to the scene. “There was someone doing CPR when we arrived,” said Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler. “He probably just suffocated. It got lodged in his throat and they couldn’t get it out. It all happened within minutes.”

Eagle Tail was rushed to Custer Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Organizers decided to call off a pie-eating contest scheduled for the next day.

This may be the second story we’ve featured in 10 years that involved someone dying during an eating contest. In 2012, we reported on Edward Archbold, the Florida man who collapsed and died shortly after winning a live cockroach eating contest.

However, there was some good news in the speed-eating circuit over the weekend. Hot dog eating world-record holder Joey “Jaws” Chestnut participated in Brooklyn’s annual hot dog eating contest at Coney Island, and managed to eat 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Yay.

Culled from Dreamindemon