DENVER (AP) - The Latest on man who choked to death during a doughnut eating challenge (all times local):
4:25 p.m.
A doughnut chain has suspended its eating challenge after a man choked to death at its Denver store.
Portland, Oregon-based Voodoo Doughnuts made the announcement in a statement to Denver news station KUSA-TV.
It comes after 42-year-old Travis Malouff died early Sunday trying to eat a half-pound doughnut in 80 seconds. Witness Julia Edelstein on Tuesday described the doughnut as the “size of a small cake.”
Winners get the doughnut for free and a button saying they won the challenge.
Malouff died the same day as a 20-year-old who had participated in a pancake-eating contest at Sacred Heart University in Hartford, Connecticut.
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This item has been corrected to show that Sacred Heart University is in Fairfield, not Hartford, Connecticut.
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2 p.m.
A man trying to eat a half-pound doughnut in 80 seconds as part of a doughnut shop’s eating challenge has choked to death in Denver.
The city coroner’s office says 42-year-old Travis Malouff of Thornton died early Sunday of asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway.
Julia Edelstein was standing in line at Voodoo Doughnuts and said Malouff was trying to eat a half-pound glazed doughnut around 1:30 a.m. Sunday when he choked.
Edelstein says people tried to help him when they realized he was choking. The coroner’s office said Malouff died at the scene.
Portland, Oregon-based Voodoo Doughnuts didn’t immediately return calls or emails seeking comment.
Denver news station KUSA-TV first reported Malouff’s death.
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