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A final judgment signed by State District Judge Bob Wortham in Beaumont on Sept. 1 says the case has been resolved and that Donnie and Katrina Wade, the student’s parents, should take nothing from Washington, D.C.-based Phi Beta Sigma. Such language is often used when the parties in a lawsuit reach an out-of-court settlement.
Marco McMillian, the fraternity’s executive director, said through a spokeswoman Wednesday that he would have no comment. Attorneys involved in the case did not respond to phone messages from The Associated Press.
Donnie Wade II collapsed and died after he and other pledges participated in a punishing series of pre-dawn physical activities on a high school track last Oct. 20. An autopsy later determined that the 20-year-old student from Dallas suffered from several medical conditions that were aggravated by the exercises.
In their lawsuit, Wade’s parents alleged that rigorous exercise was a customary initiation practice of the fraternity and that pledges also were beaten with paddles. The suit described how fraternity members failed to contact emergency medical personnel when Wade collapsed and instead drove him to a hospital 30 miles away, where he was dead on arrival.
Prairie View A&M was dropped from the suit after initially being named as a defendant, according to court records.
In April, the historically black university 45 miles northwest of Houston suspended its Phi Beta Sigma chapter through 2013 for violating the school’s anti-hazing policy. The AP reported in August that Wade’s death was at least the seventh hazing incident in seven years known to school officials.
The matter has been under review by law enforcement authorities in Waller County and is due to be presented to a grand jury sometime soon, according to Fred Edwards, the assistant district attorney handling the case.
The grand jury was scheduled to hear the case on Aug. 26, but officials decided on a postponement because some material wasn’t ready to be presented, Edwards said.
“It’s not a comment on the validity of the case,” he said. “It’s just a matter of me sitting down and going through the transcripts and getting material out that I think the grand jury is going to want to hear.”
