ATLANTA — Cherokee County man is dead after his family says a chain of smoke shops skirted Georgia law to sell a product containing a widely abused gas called nitrous oxide.
The so-called Galaxy Gas allegedly caused a driver to lose control and hit the man who was riding his bike.
Regina Johnson said her husband Charles, who went by Chuck, was a deeply religious man.
“Everywhere he went he shared his love for Jesus,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Chuck played guitar to lead worship services at a biker-based prison ministry and started his own business 40 years ago in his basement that has put custom vanities in showrooms across America.
“I’m just asking God to just please show me what he wants to come out of this,” Johnson said. “I want to see some good come out of losing the love of my life for 50 years.”
According to a wrongful death lawsuit, on March 3, Johnson was riding his electric bike on the sidewalk in the Towne Lake community of Cherokee County when Joey Tillman hit him with his car.
The lawsuit said Tillman purchased a tank of Galaxy Gas nitrous oxide less than an hour before from a Cloud 9 Smoke & Vape head shop.
The document said Tillman used the nozzle on the Galaxy Gas as a mouthpiece to do whippets to get high while driving.
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“Mr. Tillman was riding down the road, driving while huffing nitrous oxide straight out of the Galaxy Gas can,” attorney Alan Hamilton said.
The suit said the Galaxy Gas caused Tillman to pass out. His car then ran over the curb onto the sidewalk and hit Johnson.
“He had his helmet on. But unfortunately, due to the impact, he passed away a week later,” Kyle Wallace said.
Wallace said it’s a felony in Georgia to possess or sell nitrous oxide except for certain medical or food uses, or in household products.
The suit said Galaxy Gas includes disclaimer language in its packaging and online that states “food and beverage additive for culinary use only.”
But though the companies deny it, it said Galaxy Gas’ disclaimers are nothing more than an attempt to skirt the law.
“Our lawsuit says basically that Galaxy Gas, at a minimum, had to absolutely know they were distributing a substance that was going to be inhaled by kids and other people,” Hamilton said.
In an emailed statement from attorney Chris Timmons, he said “Neither Cloud 9 Smoke Co. nor SBK International, LLC, have ever marketed or sold nitrous oxide products for unlawful use or misuse, which was strictly prohibited under their terms of use and conditions of sale at the time Galaxy Gas products were sold. Both Cloud 9 and SBK International took immediate action out of an abundance of caution to remove Galaxy Gas products from retail shelves and distribution following viral social media videos of individuals misusing various nitrous oxide products.”
“The intent is clear that it’s not being sold for culinary purposes,” Wallace said.
Wallace said Though they’ve recently sold Galaxy Gas, the family that owns parent company SBK International and Cloud 9 Smoke and Vape, created Galaxy Gas “specifically because of the demand for nitrous oxide for illicit recreational use among its customer base at its Cloud 9 head shops.”
The statement said Cloud 9 and SBK International bear absolutely no responsibility for one individual’s choice to illegally and dangerously misuse a product for anything other than its intended culinary use.
“We have a strong faith in God and I said I don’t understand what’s coming next but I’m just gonna trust him and he has given me grace and peace that he has everything in control whatever is coming down the road from here,” Johnson said.
Secretary of State records we pulled For Cloud 9 Smoke Co. 28, LLC, Galaxy Gas, LLC and SBK International, LLC, and they show in 2022 all three listed the same principal office address in Kennesaw.
Wallace said that corroborates that the folks behind the head shop chain were behind Galaxy Gas.
Timmons' statement said for decades, nitrous oxide has been sold for culinary use, mentioning cold brew coffees, home-brewed beer, tasty desserts and whipped cream.
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