CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- People consume energy drinks all the time, but in South Carolina teenagers may no longer be allowed to buy them after one teen’s death.

Davis Cripe had just turned 16 years old when the unthinkable happened. He died of a caffeine induced cardiac event. His mom, Heidi, says it happened last year after he drank a McDonald's latte, a diet Mountain Dew and an energy drink in a two-hour period. A short time later he collapsed at school​.

“That has been awfully hard to grasp,” his mother says.

The drinks may sound and taste good but the Cripe family says their experience proves it can be dangerous. It's why they say teenagers shouldn't be allowed to buy energy drinks.

They are working with South Carolina lawmakers on a bill to ban the drinks for people under age 18. People who sell them would be charged with a misdemeanor.

“Caffeine is a drug,” she says. “With any drug it can affect your body and energy drinks are no different.”

Novant doctor Eric Warren says drinking some types of caffeine is fine, but it should be spread out during the day. The South Carolina bill says between 2007 and 2011, emergency room visits involving energy drinks doubled from 10,000 to more than 20,000. Warren says the issue for teenagers is that they don't know how much caffeine their body can handle.

“When we're younger and in our teenage years, we often don't realize if we have an underlying heart arrhythmia heart condition that caffeine can affect,” he says.

The Cripe family never thought caffeine could be this dangerous. They want to make sure some of it is kept in the can so kids aren’t put in danger.

Get the latest news, sports and weather delivered straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up for email and text alerts.