'Punching game' fatality identified; no charges filed

A man who died Saturday from a playing a “punching game” with a friend at a San Diego sports bar has been identified, authorities said Tuesday.

Corey Poole, 27, and his friend were drinking on St. Patrick’s Day at a bar in the city's Gaslamp Quarter when they began “consensually sparring” by punching each other in the chest, Fox 5 San Diego reported.

One of the punches, however, landed Poole to the floor, rendering him unconscious, officials told the station.

Poole was rushed to a local hospital, where he died less than an hour later, the report said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office told Fox 5 that what police previously called a “punching game,” consisted of “concurrently punching each other with closed fists on the chest.”

Bar patrons administered CPR to Poole after he collapsed, authorities said. Resuscitation efforts at the hospital were not successful.

Poole’s friend remained at the bar and was later taken to a hospital for unspecified injuries, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The friend was not arrested, and it was unclear if he would face charges. A police investigation will determine if the manner of death was an accident or homicide, officials told the paper.

The Medical Examiner’s Office, as of Tuesday, had not yet determined Poole’s cause of death, the report said.