News:Choke
The reign of "Choking Man" may be over.
The middle-aged, stocky, pleasant-mannered man who staged fake choking incidents across Southwest Florida -- and sent one woman to the hospital -- is now receiving psychiatric treatment in a local mental health facility....
"We have 17 known complaints about him," Carpenter said, but the case remains open because complaints were still being received Tuesday morning. Some date back two years.

Citing privacy provisions of the Baker Act, Carpenter declined to identify the man, except as a 36-year-old, married Arcadia man.

Although Choking Man broke no laws, the fact that he solicited help only from women, gave them false personal information and, in at least one case, obtained a woman's phone number greatly concerned law enforcement.

The break in identifying Choking Man came because he apparently didn't realize that two of the women he approached for help knew him. But they were too embarrassed to come forward until the incident became national news, Carpenter said...

The saga of Choking Man bears a strange resemblance to "Choke," a 2002 novel by Oregon author Chuck Palahniuk.

When interviewed Monday, Palahniuk said he wasn't surprised, because his 1996 debut novel "Fight Club" and the subsequent film inspired people to set up real "fight clubs" in places like Brigham Young University.

"Go figure," Palahniuk said.
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