A follow up on this fraternity hazing death case from last December... In Pennsylvania, authorities expect to bring homicide charges against most of the 30 or so Baruch College students who were on the weekend fraternity retreat and involved in the ritual gone wrong that killed a freshman pledge.
Homicide Charges Likely in Baruch College Fraternity Retreat Case
19-year-old Chun Hsien "Michael" Deng suffered severe head trauma while participating in a ritual with members of Pi Delta Psi. The game, played outside, involved fraternity pledges getting strapped into heavy backpacks and blindfolded, then made to find their way across a frozen lawn while others tried to tackle them.
According to the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, which oversaw the investigation of Deng's death, the students will likely be charged with homicide and hazing.
A coroner found that Mr. Deng, who went by the name Michael, had suffered "blunt force head trauma." When fraternity members noticed that he was unresponsive, they carried him inside, changed his clothes and conducted Internet searches on head injuries, the authorities said, and waited an hour or more before driving him to a hospital, where he was placed on life support.
Several students left the house after Mr. Deng was taken to the hospital, Chief Lewis said, and some tried to hide their cellphones from police officers. But he said that "every video, photo, content, conversation" was successfully retrieved from their phones, including "rituals, pictures" and panicked communications about concealing evidence.
In addition, Chief Lewis said, prosecutors intend to present the computer animation. "We want to put it all together," he said. "Because of the backpack, because of being pushed and how he hit his head, all those things being combined, we want to be able to show exactly how it happened, instead of just explaining how it happened."
I know I've said this before, but honestly, I don't understand the appeal of joining an organization that would require getting my ass tackled repeatedly in the freezing cold in order to join. Just my preference.
In addition to the hazing bullshit, which essentially killed a guy, it sounds like these guys made bad decisions at every possible turn, from trying to Google information about head injuries to waiting over an hour to take this kid to the hospital, then trying to cover it all up from police. Turns out, this retreat will indeed be a true test of "brotherhood," just not in the way anyone anticipated.
More here: Charges Imminent in Hazing Death of Baruch College Student, Attorney Says
