Injured Teenager Remains in Coma

A 16-year-old boy remained in a coma Monday, two days after he was injured in what police described as horseplay at a birthday party, authorities said.

“He’s been sedated and will be taken off the sedatives within the next day or so, and we’ll be able to know a little more about his condition after that,” said Kim Pine, spokeswoman for UCI Medical Center in Orange, where Samuel Meek has been unconscious and in critical condition since Saturday night.

Meek, a sophomore at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove, lost consciousness after a Marine at the party on West Sumac Lane in Anaheim placed him in a type of chokehold, Anaheim police Lt. Mike Hidalgo said.

The Marine, who is 18 and based at Camp Pendleton, has not been charged, Hidalgo said. “There’s nothing to indicate that it was anything more than horseplay,” he said. “They were just messing around.”

Detectives were expected to finish their investigation this week and report to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, Hidalgo said.

Friends who accompanied Meek to the party said the group was standing in the driveway when the Marine joined their conversation. Marlyssa Warren, 15, who witnessed the incident, said the Marine, whom the others had not met before, did several push-ups for the group. Then he began demonstrating what he had learned in boot camp, slinging his arm around Meek’s neck, Warren said.

“Sam told him to stop two or three times and . . . was trying to loosen the guy’s grip,” Warren said.

She and Meek’s girlfriend also asked the Marine to let the boy go, Warren said. He did so when Meek’s body went limp, she said.

The Marine helped carry Meek to the front lawn and tried to wake him up while other party-goers called 911, Warren said.