Bulletin: A TKE pledge, Nikolas Gallegos, has died after a party at Stephen F. Austin

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Treated for alcohol poisoning, Stephen F. Austin freshman dies

NACOGDOCHES — A Stephen F. Austin freshman treated for alcohol poisoning following an off-campus party has died, police said.

Nikolas Gallegos, 18, of Mesquite, died Sunday night at a hospital after being driven there earlier that weekend, Nacogdoches police Sgt. Greg Sowell said.

Sowell said it’s unknown how much alcohol Gallegos drank, only that he did “to the point where he became ill.”

Gallegos was a Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity pledge, school spokesman Andy Kesling said. Authorities said friends took Gallegos to the hospital after finding him unresponsive Saturday morning at an off-campus apartment where a party had taken place.

The party was not an official fraternity event, Kesling said.

Gallegos is the university’s first student to die from an apparent alcohol overdose, said Steve Westbrook, the vice president for university affairs.

“We take this very seriously,” Westbrook said.

Westbrook said Gallegos had completed a mandatory alcohol education class before school began. Stephen F. Austin has offered the course for two years, with this being the first that the class was mandatory.