Fish Prank Ends In Man’s Death

A man who popped a friend’s 6-inch tropical fish into his mouth as a joke died when it got stuck in his throat.

Steven Hill Epperson, 36, was dead on arrival at a hospital Sunday.

He put the Jack Dempsey fish in his mouth at his friend’s house, and it became wedged in his airway, said Dr. F.H. Metz, coroner for St. Mary Parish.