News & Politics - Teen's death after naked rampage baffles father

Ambular · 11-13-2004, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Teen's death after naked rampage baffles father
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
BY JULIA M. SCOTT
Star-Ledger Staff
A 17-year-old Berkeley Heights boy ran naked across Route 22 Saturday, then crashed through a window of a Mountainside home and rampaged through the house. He collapsed, bleeding in the kitchen, and died at a hospital the next day, police said yesterday.

Police are trying to determine if Cole Barrier had been using drugs. They cited "a possible drug overdose" in a statement about the incident. Marijuana and a pipe used to smoke the drug were found at the Mountainside home where Cole had spent the afternoon, Police Chief James J. Debbie said.

However, Cole's father, Philip Barrier, insisted yesterday that his son was not a drug user, but enjoyed sports and hanging out with friends.

"There was never any indication that there was drugs," Barrier said. "Teenagers experiment with things, but how would I know what he did?"

At Governor Livingston High School, where he was a senior, Cole was known for his sense of humor, friends said. He joked he would make millions by frosting both sides of Frosted Mini-Wheat cereal.

"He liked to make anybody laugh," said 17-year old Ryan Miller, also a senior. "He could turn any bad situation into a good situation."

In honor of Cole, dozens of students donned their friend's preferred mode of dress yesterday, coming to class in loose-fitting pajama pants.

Cole loved making movies, writing the script and acting it out with friends, his father said. One comedy was dubbed "The Spleen That Ate Berkeley Heights."

The teen worked at Chimney Rock Inn, a family restaurant in Gillette, until Halloween night. Manager Steven Reyngoudt said his departure was mutually agreed upon.

Cole had been accepted to Alvernia College in Reading, Pa., his father said. He planned to study sports management.

Cole was in a good mood Saturday morning, his father said. He was clean shaven and dressed nicely. He kissed his mother good- bye at about 10:30 a.m., when his 20-year-old brother, Beau, drove him over to a friend's house on Brookside Road in Mountainside.

Within a few hours, something went wrong.

A little before 3 p.m., Cole streaked across the street into the home of a pregnant woman, police said. He allegedly assaulted her before tearing through her screen door. The teen continued through the neighborhood toward Route 22, police said.

As he sprinted across the roadway, he forced a car to stop, pounding on the hood. The woman driver called 911, saying there was a "wild-eyed and out-of-control" man attempting to steal her car, police said.

Cole's behavior alarmed so many that Mountainside's emergency system was flooded, sending 911 calls to neighboring Westfield and Scotch Plains, police said.

After he jumped the median, Cole darted up to an unoccupied ranch home set off from the roadway. He broke through a large bay window, setting off the home's alarm, police said.

Next door neighbor Maria Wasyliszya said she heard the alarm and went onto her backyard deck, which looks onto the house. While dialing 911, she watched Cole trying to get out of the house through a second pane of the bay window.

"He was hitting the window and then he fell out," Wasyliszya said. A few seconds later, he jumped through a third window pane, overturning potted plants.

"It was not a guy who came to rob, there was something wrong," Wasyliszya said of his frenzied behavior.

Robert and Catherine Ross were not home when Cole smashed into their living room. But they decided to stay in a hotel after seeing the mess.

"Right now the house is uninhabitable," Robert Ross said.

Cole was treated at the scene by the Mountainside Rescue Squad and Atlantic Health Care Paramedics. He was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, but died Sunday just before 8 a.m.

An autopsy is pending.

This is such a bizarre story

I was listening to the radio today, and they were talking to a cousin of Robert Ross (the owner of the house) and he said the damage was unbelievable - possibly up to $50,000. They said there was shattered glass and massive amounts of blood all over the house. What's more, their insurance company won't cover the damages, so they basically lost all of their stuff. Can you imagine coming home to this mess, and finding a 17-year-old naked kid who has OD'd on your kitchen floor? I can't even fathom such a sight.

They also discussed that after talking to friends, they believe he was smoking marijuana that has been dipped in embalming fluid, which gives it a PCP-like effect. If this is true (because I've never heard of people smoking joints and going on naked rampages) then this kid is so unbelievably stupid. It's tragic that he died as a result, and the other people who have suffered as well. But why the HELL would you do something like that? I mean, any drug really, but smoking formaldehyde? Ugh.

If he didn't know what he was smoking because his friends didn't inform him, well, then, this is just horribly sad. I don't know what the case is. But .... eek.

California_ here_ I _come · 11-13-2004, 02:49 AM

That's sad. Poor kid. Something must've been really wrong w/him.

*Maria* · 11-13-2004, 09:37 PM

Wow. That's bizarre. Marijuana laced with embalming fluid? That's just disgusting. He could've smoked it and not known it did that, though. I have a friend who smoked a joint one time years ago that was pre-dipped in opium, and she got deathly ill. It could be that the person who dealt to him or whoever had the marijuana did that themself.

Even so, that's so sad.

LittleMilkJug · 11-14-2004, 06:59 AM

Drugs. Just say no.

Orton · 11-14-2004, 10:53 PM

Jesus! what the heck was he on!

**TheAngel** · 11-15-2004, 10:28 PM

Sounds like something PCP would do. That stuff can mess you up. I don't even get why people use drugs in the first place. It's pathetic.

dizzy_izzy · 11-16-2004, 11:12 PM

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who lace marijuana with embalming fluids because it creates a PCP-like effect. They don't realize that something like this can happen. PCP is a hallucinogen and usually causes bizarre behavior, if not death by overdose.
Didn't the article say the kid went to a friend's house that morning? Wouldn't his friend know something that happened?
I wouldn't rule out the chance that the dealer laced the marijuana with something, but usually they try to sell first time buyers (which I'm assuming this person was) herbs like oregano and parsley with very little actual marijuana in it.
He and his friend probably heard about dipping it in embalming fluid on the internet....and thought it sounded fun and interesting. Unfortunately, they didn't hear the truth.

It's just really sad.


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