Fraternity, 18 members charged in Penn State student’s death
BELLEFONTE, PA. >> Eighteen Penn State fraternity brothers have been charged with crimes ranging up to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a pledge who authorities say repeatedly fell down a flight of stairs after he and others were made to run a gantlet of drinking stations where they guzzled vodka, beer and wine.
Fraternity members at Beta Theta Pi resisted getting help for 19-year-old Timothy Piazza, causing him to suffer for hours and possibly making his injuries worse, a prosecutor said Friday in announcing the results of a grand jury investigation.
“This is a very sad day for Centre County — it’s been sad ever since we lost a child for reasons that are totally preventable. A child who just wanted to come to college here, who put his faith in Penn State,” District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said at a news conference.
Eight of the fraternity brothers and the chapter itself were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Other charges include aggravated and simple assault, evidence tampering, alcohol-related violations and hazing. An attorney for the chapter did not immediately respond to telephone or email messages seeking comment.
The grand jury, aided by security camera footage, said the fraternity was heavily stocked with booze for the Feb. 2 ceremony at which Piazza, a sophomore engineering student from Lebanon, New Jersey, and 13 others accepted pledge bids. The pledges were pressured to chug vodka, shotgun beers and drink wine at different stations.
Piazza tumbled down a long flight of stairs that night and fell several other times, injuring his head, Miller said. The next morning, he fell down the same steps and was unconscious when help was finally summoned. Piazza died Feb. 4 as a result of a traumatic brain injury.
Miller said doctors estimate Piazza had a blood-alcohol content of nearly 0.40 percent.
The investigation found some frat members tried to cover up what happened. A text message recovered by police urged pledges to get rid of evidence of alcohol, and conversations were found discussing deleting conversations from a messaging app.
“Sadly, we’re never going to see his smile again except in pictures,” said the student’s father, Jim Piazza, who attended the news conference. “This didn’t have to happen. This is the result of a feeling of entitlement, flagrant disregard” for the law.
Penn State permanently banned Beta Theta Pi on March 30, accusing it of a “persistent pattern” of excessive drinking, drug use and hazing. University President Eric Barron called the report heart-wrenching, sickening and incomprehensible.
“It is numbing how an atmosphere that endangers the well-being and safety of another person could occur within an organization that prided itself on commitment to each other and to its community,” Barron said.
Miller said video footage turned over to investigators was critical to the investigation, providing evidence of what occurred and contradicting stories some witnesses had told.
The cameras recorded Piazza drinking vodka and beer at around 9:20 p.m. and an hour later needing help to walk, staggering and hunched over, from an area near the basement stairs to a couch. He’s later shown trying unsuccessfully to open the front door, then “severely staggering drunkenly toward the basement steps” at about 10:45 p.m., the grand jury report said.
He was subsequently found at the bottom of the steps after apparently falling face-first. Four brothers carried his limp body back upstairs, where some poured liquid on him and one slapped him in the face, the jury said. Fraternity members put a backpack containing textbooks on him so Piazza would not suffocate on his own vomit, the grand jury wrote.