19-Year-Old Commits Suicide Live on Justin.tv While Commenters Egg Him On

Here’s a story nobody likes to see. 19-year-old Abraham K. Biggs overdosed on pills on a live webcam stream before hundreds of people on Wednesday night, all while commenters on Justin.tv and bodybuilding.com encouraged him, apparently thinking it was some kind of joke. He lay passed out on his webcam for hours until he appeared to stop breathing, at which point the people watching realised it was no joke.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Followers of internet lore are surely familiar with Brandon “I told u I was hardcore” Vedas, who overdosed on drugs live on a webcam after having given his personal information out to the viewers in case something went wrong. All were too afraid to get in trouble to call the authorities.

There’s definitely something about being on the internet that makes you feel cut off from and not responsible for the people you’re dealing with (see: YouTube commenters), but when you’re watching a real, live human on video doing something obviously damaging to themselves, it’s completely inexcusable to do nothing. And to egg them on, well, that’s something those people will have to deal with on their own. A sad story all around. [NewTeeVee]