Here is an excerpt from St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A former University of Missouri-Columbia freshman who was hospitalized last September with alcohol poisoning has sued Kappa Alpha fraternity and three of its members for negligence surrounding a hazing ritual.
Brandon Zingale was an 18-year-old pledge at Kappa Alpha when he was “coerced by active members of (the fraternity) to drink so much vodka that he nearly died” at the fraternity house in Columbia the night of Sept. 27, 2016, the lawsuit alleges.
After Zingale passed out, fraternity members left the freshman alone after putting him to bed and attaching a backpack in an effort to keep him from rolling over and suffocating. The next morning, Zingale was found unconscious and foaming at the mouth when paramedics arrived.
Defendants in the suit include the fraternity’s national organization Kappa Alpha Order and its Alpha Kappa chapter at Mizzou. The fraternity knew of the risk of hazing traditions involving heavy drinking and did not do enough to prevent its members’ dangerous activities, according to the suit.
