3 fraternity members charged in hazing death of Michigan State student
June 10, 2022
Three former Michigan State University frat brothers were arrested in connection to the death of pledge Phat Nguyen
Three former Michigan State University fraternity brothers were slapped with criminal charges in the hazing death of a pledge during a booze-fueled bash welcoming new members last year.
Business student Phat Nguyen, 21, died of alcohol intoxication and three other pledges were hospitalized after a Nov. 20, 2021 “crossing party” hosted by the now-banned Pi Alpha Phi. The four were allegedly found unconscious and reeking of urine in a dirty basement, wearing nothing but shorts, reports said.
“Pledge master” Ethan Cao, “pledge dad” Andrew Nguyen and frat president Hoang Pham are facing charges of hazing resulting in death and hazing resulting in physical injury, the State News reported Thursday.
Witnesses previously described the disturbing party to the News, saying the pledges in “the Asian-American interest” frat were passed out in a dank basement with Cheerios cereal scattered on the floor.
Michigan State University has banned the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity in response to the incident
Business student Phat Nguyen died of alcohol intoxication
The pledges were left unconscious on mattresses on the ground, wearing nothing but shorts with words like “simps” scrawled on their backs, the witnesses said. One person said they saw a pledge convulsing with blood dripping from his nose, the News reported.
“The air got really thick,” one witness told the publication. “It was really gross like you could smell something, and it wasn’t even just urine, it was a mix of something just kind of like vomit.”
Another said attendees went down to the basement to gawk at the pledges and take photos before heading back up to the party.
“It wasn’t secret — everyone knew what was going on,” the witness said. “It just happened to be that people would go down there, I guess take photos, go back up, dance, party, get bored, go back down there.”
Police officers called to the party at 2 a.m. found Phat Nguyen unconscious and not breathing, reports said. An autopsy report confirmed alcohol intoxication was the cause of death, according to the News.
The three accused former frat boys, who are facing up to 15 years in jail and a fine up to $10,000, are not enrolled in MSU for the fall, the Lansing State Journal reported. A lawyer for one of the accused said the case will come down to whether Nguyen was forced into drinking.
Phat Nguyen and three other victims were left in a disgusting basement with the word “simps” written on their backs
“The question becomes whether or not this is hazing, or — and this is where I am not minimizing anything — was this drinking at a college party, which occurs right, wrong, or indifferent all day, every day throughout the county,” Brian Morley, attorney for Andrew Nguyen, told the Journal.
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University of Missouri student is blind, unable to walk or talk after alleged hazing
By Yaron Steinbuch
Santulli was found inside a car Oct. 20 with a blood-alcohol content that was more than six times the legal driving limit
A University of Missouri student who suffered a serious brain injury after being forced to drink a bottle of vodka during a pledge party is back home in Minnesota — but is blind and unable to walk or communicate.
“He has massive brain damage. He’s blind. He’s unable to walk or communicate,” family attorney David Bianchi said about 19-year-old Daniel Santulli, who is in his parents’ care, the Columbia Tribune reported.
Santulli, of Eden Prairie, was found inside a car Oct. 20 at University Hospital, where his blood-alcohol content was found to be 0.486 percent — more than six times the legal driving limit.
The student was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator after the hazing incident at the Phi Gamma Delta house, where he was a pledge, according to a February report in the Columbia Missourian.
Daniel Santulli has “massive brain damage” stemming from the alleged hazing incident.
Bianchi — who has settled a lawsuit against the fraternity, known as Fiji, and 22 other defendants — on Monday sought in a court motion to add fraternity brothers Samuel Gandhi and Alec Wetzler to the lawsuit.
Wetzler was allegedly an organizer of the event, according to the probable cause statement cited by the news outlet.
“We didn’t know about them when we filed the original lawsuit,” Bianchi said, according to the outlet.
The petition, which Judge Joshua Devine approved, alleges negligence against the two defendants.
Wetzler allegedly forced Santulli to drink excessive amounts of booze by putting a tube into his mouth and pouring beer down his throat, according to the lawyer’s complaint.
Gandhi, meanwhile, walked back into Santulli’s room and saw that he had not moved from where he had left him, the Columbia Tribune reported on the amended lawsuit.
“At 12:28 a.m., Danny slid partly off of the couch and ended up with his face on the floor but he had no voluntary control of his arms or legs and remained there until someone passing through the room saw him and put him back on the couch,” the petition states.
“His skin was pale and his lips were blue, yet no one called 911,” it adds, according to the outlet.
Wetzler has reportedly been charged with misdemeanor counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor. He is due in court on July 5.
Fraternity member Ryan Delanty sent a text message to a friend at 10:57 p.m. Oct. 19 during the “pledge father reveal party” saying “my son is dead.”
The friend responded by asking what Delanty did to him.
“I left him,” Delanty, the so-called “pledge dad,” reportedly texted back.
Bianchi said the fraternity members should be charged under the state’s hazing statute.
The Missouri chapter of Phi Gamma Delta was suspended after the incident
“Missouri’s got a good anti-hazing statute,” he said, according to the Columbia Tribune.
The judge also has approved the dismissal of several defendants sought by Bianchi because of the settlements, the outlet said.
The national fraternity and university have both suspended the Missouri chapter of Phi Gamma Delta.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny and the Santulli family during this difficult time,” Ron Caudill, the fraternity’s national executive director, told the Missourian in February.
1 comment:
I thought that maybe Fraternities were useful before the internet so that people could more easily plagiarize papers, but now with internet plagiarization check programs I would think the only thing they are good for was to pool resources for bail money. Maybe just sour grapes on my part.
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