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Testimony in Youngstown State Kappa Alpha Psi case

Hazing victim Breylon Stubbs: excerpt

 

Stubbs told the judge that the group hazing rituals for Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity took place off-campus in the basement of a south side home over the course of 12 days.

Stubbs, who said he went to the hospital twice himself as a result of beatings, talked about rushing his life-long friend Resean Yancey to the hospital on February 1st.

“He started convulsing, breathing heavily, foaming at the mouth. I didn’t know what else to do,” Stubbs said. “When I went in the hospital room, I saw him on a breathing machine.”

The victim says they were hit with full force punches, a wooden paddle and hangers.

“After I went to the hospital the first time I was instructed to wear a red “X” on my chest. That way I wouldn’t be able to get struck in my chest area,” Stubbs said. “They were allowed to hit me anywhere else though.”

But attorneys representing the defendants say this is not an open and shut case, arguing that the victims repeatedly returned to the Woodford Avenue home knowing the fraternity initiation could get physical again.

“That’s a big issue we talk about, the fact that you knew this was going to happen,” said Defense Attorney Dennis Dimartino.

But Stubbs says he wanted to quit several times, and only returned for the initiation ritual because he didn’t want to leave his friend Resean Yancy by himself.

The defense also argues no medical evidence was presented at Friday’s hearing to prove the beatings were responsible for sending the YSU students to the hospital. End of excerpt

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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