Police - Challenge leads to teen's deadly brain injury

ST. LOUIS -- A teenager who challenged an acquaintance to smack him on the head with a skateboard died Wednesday after he was unhooked from life-support, four days after his skull was fractured during the stunt, police said.

Michael Aubuchon died at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday at a St. Louis-area hospital. The 14-year-old suspect, originally charged with second-degree assault, will likely face more serious charges, possibly involuntary manslaughter, an investigator said.

"It's just a tragedy, no doubt about that," Maryland Heights police Sgt. Joe Bova Conti said. "It's one of those things where kids believe they're invincible. It just got to the point where common sense took a backseat."

Aubuchon, 15, hit himself on the forehead Saturday at least twice with his skateboard, then bragged to several peers he could take hard blows to the head, investigators said.

Aubuchon handed his skateboard to another boy and encouraged that teen to hit him. The suspect obliged, delivering a two-handed blow with the skateboard to the top left side of Aubuchon's head, authorities said.

Aubuchon fell unconscious and the suspect fled in panic before being arrested later at his grandparent's home, Bova Conti said.

"I don't think he made an attempt to escape; I think he just didn't know what to do," Bova Conti said of the suspect, whose name is being withheld because of his age. That teen remained Wednesday in juvenile custody, Bova Conti said.

Since sustaining the injury, Bova Conti said, Aubuchon had been on life-support at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur.

"For all practical purposes, his injury was so serious that recovery was not going to happen; they knew that from the get-go," Bova Conti said.

Aubuchon and the accused teen attended Pattonville High School, where Aubuchon was a well-liked sophomore who played saxophone in the band, principal Jeff Marion said. Marion declined to reveal the accused teen's status at the school, citing privacy issues.

On Wednesday, counselors there were tending to grieving students, including many who channeled their numbing sorrow into making beaded bracelets and necklaces in Aubuchon's memory, Marion said.

"That's really been therapeutic for them," he said. The district has also established a trust fund to help Aubuchon's family cover funeral expenses.

"Obviously, we have a lot of students quite upset," Marion said. "It's just a shame. There's no way to try to explain what happened or make sense of it."