Eighteen students at a major Pennsylvania university and their fraternity were charged on Friday in one of the largest hazing prosecutions in US history.
Eight of the Penn State students face involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the death of 19-year-old Tim Piazza, who suffered fatal injuries when he fell down a set of stairs during a Beta Theta Pi fraternity pledge party earlier this year.
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:37
Penn State fraternity charged in hazing ...
Penn State fraternity charged in hazing death
A fraternity at Penn State University and eighteen of its members were charged with involuntary manslaughter, hazing, and other alcohol-related violations stemming from the death of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza.
Up Next
ISIS leader in Afghanistan killed
- Video duration
- 01:03
- Video duration
- 01:03
ISIS leader in Afghanistan killed
ISIS leader in Afghanistan killed
U.S. and Afghan officials confirm the head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abdul Hasib, was killed in an operation on April 27, conducted jointly by Afghan and U.S. Special Forces in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Up Next
Prince Philip worshipers pray for second coming
- Video duration
- 01:34
- Video duration
- 01:34
Prince Philip worshipers pray for second ...
Prince Philip worshipers pray for second coming
An isolated tribe on Vanuatu that worships Britain's Prince Philip were dismayed when they learned that he was retiring from public office. But they hope that some day, their prince will come.
Up Next
32 children killed in Tanzania bus crash
- Video duration
- 00:51
- Video duration
- 00:51
32 children killed in Tanzania bus crash
32 children killed in Tanzania bus crash
Thirty-two schoolchildren, two teachers and a minibus driver where killed in Tanzania when their vehicle plunged into a roadside ravine.
Up Next
North Korea detains another American
- Video duration
- 01:10
- Video duration
- 01:10
North Korea detains another American
North Korea detains another American
North Korea has detained another US citizen on suspicion of 'hostile acts' against the state, which would make him the fourth American to be held by the isolated country amid heightened diplomatic tensions with Washington.
Up Next
Macron claims victory in French election
- Video duration
- 01:06
- Video duration
- 01:06
Macron claims victory in French election
Macron claims victory in French election
Centrist Emmanuel Macron claims victory as Frances's youngest president as jubilant supporters party outside the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Up Next
Le Pen concedes defeat in French election
- Video duration
- 00:37
- Video duration
- 00:37
Le Pen concedes defeat in French election
Le Pen concedes defeat in French election
Far right populist Marine Le Pen thanks her supporters after early voting indicates her rival Emmanuel Macron will be France's next president.
Up Next
France elects a new president
- Video duration
- 01:11
- Video duration
- 01:11
France elects a new president
France elects a new president
Emmanuel Macron has won the race for the French presidency, beating far-right rival Marine Le Pen to get the keys to the Elysee Palace.
Penn State fraternity charged in hazing death
A fraternity at Penn State University and eighteen of its members were charged with involuntary manslaughter, hazing, and other alcohol-related violations stemming from the death of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza.
Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller announced the sweeping case at a news conference in Bellefonte. Flanked by Piazza's parents and a blown-up portrait of the sophomore, she accused fraternity members of putting Piazza through a dangerous booze-fueled hazing ritual and failing to call for help once he had injured himself.
"It's heartbreaking all around," she said. "There are no winners here."
With his arm wrapped around his wife, Piazza's father, Jim, choked back tears.
"This did not have to happen," he said.
The charges unveiled on Friday were the result of a months-long grand jury investigation. The panel's blistering presentment described a ritual known as "the gauntlet" in which pledges were required to stop at various alcohol stations, where they guzzled vodka, shotgunned beers, drank from wine bags and played multiple rounds of beer pong.
One fraternity member told the grand jury that pledges drank four to five alcoholic beverages within a two-minute time span.
Those charged with misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter included Brendan Young, president of the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Penn State, as well as fellow fraternity members Daniel Casey, Jonah Neuman, Nick Kubera, Michael Bonatucci, Gary Dibileo, Luke Visser and Joe Sala.
Each also faces felony charges of aggravated assault that could result in prison terms if they are convicted.
In addition, 10 other student members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity face lesser charges including hazing and furnishing alcohol to minors.
Piazza, an engineering major from New Jersey, was intoxicated at the February 2 pledge party when he fell multiple times and was knocked unconscious, the district attorney said.
Members of the fraternity moved him to a couch but did not call for emergency help until the next morning, about 12 hours later. Piazza died the next day at Hershey Medical Centre, having suffered a non-recoverable head injury, ruptured spleen and collapsed lung.
Defense attorneys for the students have said previously that fraternity members did not know Piazza was in danger but rather thought he was just drunk and would sleep it off.
But Parks Miller lambasted that argument on Friday, saying that video taken from the fraternity house's extensive security system disproved those claims.
"It's unusual to have a crime captured from beginning to end," she said.
The charges were announced hours before Penn State's board of trustees were scheduled to meet and as commencement festivities were getting underway at the 46,000-student University Park campus.
The university, having conducted its own investigation, permanently banned Beta Theta Pi earlier this spring, citing evidence of forced drinking, hazing and other illegal activity. The university also instituted new rules for the rest of its 83 fraternities and sororities, whose members represent about 18 percent of the student body.
In a statement on Friday, the university's Interfraternity Council pledged it was committed to reforms that would prevent similar deaths in the future.
"Our thoughts continue to lie with the Piazza family as the justice process moves forward," the statement read. "The best way to shift culture is for students, alumni, and the university to work together."
No charges were filed against Tim Bream, 56, a Penn State assistant athletic director and head trainer for the football team who also lived in the Beta Theta Pi house. Bream was employed by the fraternity as an adviser.
Parks Miller said Friday that Bream was in his room at the fraternity house on the night of Piazza's death, but the investigation did not reveal any evidence that would result in charges.
Hazing and excessive drinking at fraternities and sororities has long plagued colleges and universities, at times resulting in similar prosecutions.
Five years ago, a fraternity pledge ritual involving alcohol resulted in the death of a student at Northern Illinois University. Prosecutors charged 22 fraternity members, including five Pi Kappa Alpha leaders who pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and were sentenced to various terms of probation and community service.
Two years ago, prosecutors charged 37 members of the Pi Delta Psi fraternity at Baruch College in New York in the hazing death of 19-year-old freshman Chun Hsien "Michael" Deng. The case included third-degree murder charges against five current and former members.
The Philadelphia Inquirer