Bronx, N.Y. - Ice bucket challenges have gone viral in the social media circuit. These challenges involve a nomination of friends who will either take the challenge or donate to a charity to fund research to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Initially, these challenges were harmless and typically involved a bucket of ice being dumped on one's head, but as time went on, they became ever more daring. Some of them were completed atop tall and narrow monuments while others were completed while driving above the speed limit during rush hour.
The most recent one has taken the life of a wealthy man from N.Y. Don Rodriguez, who was born and raised in the Riverdale section of the Bronx died on Tuesday, as a result of injuries sustained in an ice bucket challenge gone terribly wrong. The details of the challenge and Mr Rodriguez's death are horrid: he submerged himself in a vat of liquid nitrogen, which slow-dripped over him for a period of 12 hours. He was found frozen solid with an eerie smile on his face by his cleaning lady early on Tuesday morning.
In an interview with his closest friend, Joel, we learned that the challenge presented to Don was meant to be a practical joke, which turned out to be everything but deathly funny. "We never thought he would take the challenge because it was certain death," recalled Joel. "Don was the cheapest man of means I knew, and we thought it'd be funny to force him to donate to a charity," he added. When asked why Don had a smile on his face when he was discovered dead in his apartment, Joel put his head down and explained that "a note in Don's pocket presents the same challenge to three of his even more stingy friends."
At press time, we learned that funeral services will be held on Friday at Holy Ghost Church, 220 Coldwater Road, in Rochester, NY.
