May 15 (Reuters): A South Carolina teenager who collapsed in a high school classroom last month died because he drank several highly caffeinated drinks too quickly, a coroner said yesterday.

Davis Allen Cripe, 16, drank a latte from McDonald's, a large Mountain Dew soda, and a highly caffeinated energy drink in just under two hours, said Gary Watts, the coroner of Richland County, South Carolina.

Watts told Reuters by phone that physicians on his staff determined that Cripe died from a "caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia".

It was likely that caffeine would not have been seen as a factor in his death if it had not been for witnesses who could tell officials what Cripe had to drink before he collapsed during a high school class, Watts said.

He said the primary witness to what Cripe drank could not definitely say what brand of energy drink he had but said it was from a container the size of a large soft drink.

"The energy drink was basically chugged," Watts said.