Hazing Ritual Gone Too Far  

August 15, 2017

On February 2nd, a pledging event occurred at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at Penn State University involving what many are calling hazing gone wrong. After consuming a large amount of alcohol in a very short amount of time, a fraternity pledge was drunkenly incapacitated to the point where he was falling down. At one point in the night, he fell down the stairs and was injured, but no phone call was made to emergency services.

It wasn’t until the next day that the fraternity finally called for help. The following day, the young man passed away in the hospital from his injuries during the night. There has been a great deal of fallout from this event, and it is sure to continue to be more as time passes.

The fraternity itself has been banned by the university and shut down permanently as this was not the first time that the frat house had gone against university policy. There is also a criminal case involving 18 of the members of the fraternity that were involved in some way with the tragic happenings of that evening. The criminal charges include things such as tampering with evidence, manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and aggravated assault.

The father of the pledge that has passed away reported that doctors had informed him that if a call for help had been made earlier in these events, there was a chance that his son would have lived through his injuries.

As this case is still moving its way through the criminal justice system, there are no civil trials being held to determine whether or not the hosts of the event could be held liable for being negligent in seeking help. This is a rather high profile case, but all wrongful death cases deserve the same attention to detail that this case is receiving. Contact the law offices of Quinn and Logue today if you believe that your loved one passed on because of the negligence of another.