OU frat denies responsibility in death
An Ohio University fraternity being sued for the alleged hazing death of a student from Dublin says it is not responsible, stating in a court filing that Collin Wiant was no longer a pledge at the time of his death.
Wiant, an 18-year-old freshman, died on Nov. 12, 2018, shortly after medics found him unresponsive at 45 Mill St. in Athens, which his family’s lawsuit refers to as the unofficial annex house of the Sigma Pi fraternity. He died of asphyxiation due to nitrous oxide ingestion, an autopsy determined.
He was found surrounded by drug paraphernalia, including
canisters of nitrous oxide, also known as “whippets,” according to the lawsuit filed on Feb.
14 by Wiant’s parents, Kathleen and Wade Wiant, in Athens County Common Pleas Court.
The Epsilon chapter of Sigma Pi and Sigma Pi International are defendants in the wrongful-death lawsuit. Ten “John Does”
also are listed as liable to the plaintiff.
The fraternity, in its response to the lawsuit,says it suspended Wiant “and removed him from its pledging process on or about Oct. 24, 2018,” after learning that police were investigating an allegation that he had sexually assaulted a female student at the university.
No charges were filed against Wiant in the case, which was closed by Ohio University police after his death.
Rex Elliott, the attorney for Wiant’s estate, said the fraternity’s decision to include “unproven, untrue” sexual-assault allegations in its response have caused “great distress” for Wiant’s family.
He also said he has “a mountain of evidence” to show that Wiant wasstill a fraternity pledgeat the time of his death.
An attorney for the legal firm representing the fraternity saidthey won’tcommenton the lawsuit while it is pending.
Sigma Pi acknowledgesin its response that some members of the fraternity went with Wiant to an Athens bar in the hours before his death, that some were with him at 45 Mill St. at the time of his death and that a fraternity member called 911. The response denies that the Mill Street location is an unofficial annex house for the fraternity.
But the fraternity states that Wiant “voluntarily and knowingly” participated in the events that led to his death and “assumed all the risks”
associated with those events.
The alleged harm to Wiant was caused by individuals “over whom defendant possesses no control and is not legally or otherwise responsible,” the fraternity states.
The lawsuitalleges that Wiant underwentmonths of hazing, which it describes as physically, mentally and emotionally taxing. The hazing included Wiant being beaten with a belt, pelted with eggs, deprived of sleep, forced to drink a gallon of alcoholic beverages in an hour, and given cocaine, marijuana, Adderall and Xanax, the lawsuit states.
Wiant was directed to the Mill Street apartment and accompanied by a fraternity member just after midnight on the day of his death, according to the lawsuit.
The university ordered thefraternity to close immediately in the wake of Wiant’s death. The chapter remains closed under a cease-and-desist order.