The Daily Tism

Autistic man slain by slightly inaccurate fact

Added 2024-07-19 10:00:02 +0000 UTC

Piece by Sara Gibbs, Image by Shutterstock

An autistic man has tragically lost his life after a neurotypical friend got a fact about his special interest very slightly wrong, authorities have said.

Jack Harrington, 32, was reportedly out for a beer with childhood friend Ben Espenson, 31, when Espenson casually asked if Harrington was “still into sharks” because he’d heard that “sharks have to continually swim or they’ll drown.”

Speaking through tears, Espenson said: “Jack started ranting about how that’s a misconception and only SOME species have to continually swim, but many are capable of pumping water over their gills while stationary.”

“Then he said: ‘For example, the whitetip reef shark, Latin name Triaenodon obesus - or the grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus , amongst many others lay sedentary on the sea floor and open and close their mouths to keep water flowing over their…’ Jack then clutched his chest and dropped to the floor.”

Espenson added: “I’ll miss Jack - but at least I learned something about sharks.”