The Associated Press

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. - A Cumberland College freshman soccer player collapsed at a teammate's apartment and died, apparently after inhaling from a can of compressed air.

Brenten A. Davidson, 19, of Monroe, Ohio, was pronounced dead at Baptist Regional Medical Center late Tuesday night.

Davidson and about 10 or 15 other people were at the apartment when he stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating, Williamsburg police Detective Wayne Bird said.

People at the gathering said Davidson had been inhaling from the compressed air can, commonly used to clean keyboards and electronic equipment, Bird said.

"I can't say that that's the cause of death. ... The only thing I do know is there were allegations that he was inhaling that substance prior to death," Bird said.

Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley said preliminary autopsy reports weren't available yet. He said any reports of inhalant use causing the death were "speculation."

"There's a whole lot more to take into account, and we have to weigh out everything," he said.

When Davidson's friends realized he was unresponsive, they called emergency workers and performed CPR, Bird said.

Inhalants are "sniffed" or "huffed" to produce a high. Henry Spiller, director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Center in Louisville, said hundreds of people in the United States die each year because of inhalants.

"There's no warning that this particular person is going to get it," said Spiller, who has published articles on inhalant abuse. "Just because I've done it three or four or 20 times doesn't mean it isn't going to happen with me."

Cumberland College President Jim Taylor said the death of Davidson, an education major, is "knee-buckling" for the school, which has about 1,700 students.

"I just know that he was a fine young man, and that his life ended in an untimely manner," Taylor said.

"Most people are allowed to flower and bloom and experience a lifetime, and we're sorry that was not an opportunity afforded to him by life."