Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database Moderator: The following feature was written by veteran reporter Christine Vendel covering the Tim Piazza case. Because of unprecedented videotaping of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, this case is of maximum importance. I am pleased she used the database as a small aid to her coverage of 15 hazing cases in Pennsylvania.
Excerpt:
These are the men facing the most serious charges:
“The fraternity members facing the most serious charges – involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault — are: Beta Theta Pi fraternity president Brendan Young, 21, of Malvern; pledge master Daniel Casey, 19, of Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; Gary DiBileo, 21, of Scranton; Nick Kubera, 19, of Downingtown; Luke Visser, 19, of Encitas, Calif.; Joe Sala, 19, of Erie; Michael Bonatucci, 19, of Woodstock, Ga.; and Jonah Neuman, 19, of Nashville.”
Here is the link to story by reporter Christine Vendel
And an excerpt
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former University of Missouri student is suing a fraternity and its parent organization over an alleged hazing incident he says left him with near-fatal alcohol poisoning while the frat already was on probation for alcohol infractions.
Brandon Zingale’s lawsuit filed Thursday in Boone County — home of the Columbia campus he attended — alleges he and other pledges of the Kappa Alpha Order’s Alpha Kappa chapter were “coerced” to participate in a September 2016 vodka-chugging contest.
After that forced binge incapacitated Zingale, then an 18-year-old freshman, he was left alone in a bedroom overnight and was found the next morning drenched in urine, “unconscious, barely breathing and unable to be awakened,” the lawsuit alleges.
When rushed by ambulance to a hospital 10 hours after the drinking stunt, Zingale still had a blood-alcohol level of .41 — five times more than the state’s legal threshold for intoxication and within the range considered lethal, according to the lawsuit.
Fraternity members “were instructed and agreed to keep the truth about what happened to Brandon from university officials, the police and Brandon’s family,” the lawsuit alleges while also claiming that Zingale was drugged against his will at least once.
That alleged hazing came roughly two weeks after the fraternity already had been placed on semester-long probation for illegally providing alcohol to minors. The university suspended the fraternity the next month, then weeks later barred it from officially being recognized on campus for five years, citing repeated conduct violations that included Zingale’s case. The ban prohibits the fraternity from campus activities and access to some university amenities, including auditoriums and meeting rooms.
Zingale withdrew from the university shortly after the incident and has enlisted in the military, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and also names three members of the fraternity, including its president at the time.