Cops arrest 10 in death of LSU fraternity pledge

BATON ROUGE, La. — Ten people were arrested Wednesday on hazing charges in the death of a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge whose blood-alcohol content level was more than six times the legal limit for driving, officials said.

One of the 10 suspects — Matthew Alexander Naquin, 19, of Boerne, Texas — also faces a negligent homicide charge in the death last month of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver, a freshman from Roswell, Ga., LSU said in a statement.

An autopsy showed Gruver’s blood-alcohol content level at the time of his death was 0.495, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark said Wednesday. The legal blood-alcohol limit for driving in Louisiana is 0.08 percent.

Eight of the suspects are LSU students and were active members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, according to university spokesman Ernie Ballard. He said all 10 turned themselves in to LSU police on Wednesday. The hazing charges against all 10 suspects, whose ages range from 18 to 21, are misdemeanors.

LSU President F. King Alexander said in a statement that the arrests “underscore that the ramifications of hazing can be devastating.”

“Maxwell Gruver’s family will mourn his loss for the rest of their lives, and several other students are now facing serious consequences — all due to a series of poor decisions,” Alexander added.

Gruver died at a Baton Rouge hospital on Sept. 14 after fraternity members found him lying on a couch at the fraternity house and couldn’t tell if he was breathing, police said.

Clark, the coroner, concluded Gruver died of acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration. The autopsy found Gruver inhaled vomit and other fluid into his lungs, said Clark. He ruled the death an accident.