HARDY COUNTY, W. Va. (WRIC) — The attorney for Campbell Ryan Fortune, the driver in the car crash that killed three James Madison University (JMU) students in 2023, asked the court to exclude any evidence related to the “whippets” found on the driver’s side floorboard of the car.
Whippets, a slang term for nitrous oxide (N2O), is a type of gas most commonly found in whipped cream chargers. Inhaling N2O can cause physical and mental impairment, numbness and hallucinations. According to the National Library of Medicine, the use of whippets “is not safe.”
Fortune was charged at 19 years old after crashing into a tree along West Virginia Route 259, killing John “Luke” Fergusson of Richmond, 19, Nicholas Troutman of Henrico County, 19, and Joshua Mardis of Williamsburg, 20, on Feb. 2, 2023…