Tell Mom 'I Love Her If I Die', Teen Says As He Suffocates In Van

CINCINNATI, OH — Kyle Plush called 911 on Tuesday afternoon when the sophomore became trapped inside his minivan near his school in Cincinnati. During the call, a desperate Plush was recorded saying: "I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die."

It wasn't until six hours later that Plush's father found the 16-year-old's lifeless body. He had become trapped by a folding seat in the vehicle.

Plush became pinned when he climbed onto the rear bench seat in the third row to get tennis equipment out of his 2002 Honda Odyssey, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer, which cited a law enforcement source with knowledge of the matter. The seat flipped up and over, the newspaper said, trapping Plush upside down under the seat.

"The young man was trapped in the third row bench seat, and it is called positional asphyxiation," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters told WCPO-TV. "We are actively trying to identify experts to assist in us in this investigation."

Deters told the station they were still trying to find out what lead to the tragedy outside Seven Hills School, located in the city's Madisonville neighborhood.

Plush called 911 around 3 p.m. He told told dispatchers he was inside a gold Honda Odyssey.

"Help, help, help," Plush said in the call, The Enquirer reported. "I'm in desperate need of help."

The dispatcher, apparently not understanding Plush, repeatedly asked "Where are you?" and "What is the address?"

Cincinnati police officers and county sheriff's deputies searched the campus, including the parking lots, but couldn't find him. They tried calling his phone number. No one picked up, the station reported. One deputy wondered whether the call had been a prank.

"It was really hard to hear," the operator told the deputy. "It was really a strange call."

Plush called again.

"This is not a joke," he said. "I am trapped inside a gold Honda Odyssey van in the parking lot of Seven Hills. ... Send officers immediately. I'm almost dead."

WCPO-TV, which obtained audio of the call, says heavy breathing could be heard along with loud banging.

Plush's body wasn't found until Tuesday night, around 9 p.m., in a parking lot adjacent to school grounds.

His death was deemed an accident and a coroner ruled he died of asphyxia due to chest compression.

WCPO-TV reported on Thursday that a computer-aided dispatch report contained latitude-longitude coordinates of the 911 call. The coordinates were feet away from Plush's minivan, the station said.

The school said in a release: "Kyle joined the Seven Hills community in the sixth grade. He was a young man of keen intelligence, good humor, and great courage, and this whole community feels this loss very deeply."

City Manager Harry Black told The Enquirer that city officials are also investigating.

"This matter is very disturbing," Black said. "If there are deficiencies on the part of the 911 center operations, my mandate is to fix whatever needs to be fixed."

Last year, roughly 800,000 Honda Odyssey vans from the 2011 through 2017 model years were recalled because second-row seats were accidentally tipping forward if they were improperly latched. Honda received 46 reports of minor injuries related to the issue.

Plush's van, a 2002 model, was not among those recalled.

A burial is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday at St. Rose Church, located at 2501 Riverside Dr., according to his obituary.

Friends can visit at T.P. White & Sons Funeral Home, located at 2050 Beechmont Ave., on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Photo credit: Screenshot of Google Maps